


Godzilla Versus King Ghidorah

by DoctorpooandtheTURDIS



Series: Go, Go, Godzilla [2]
Category: Godzilla - All Media Types, Godzilla: King of The Monsters (2019), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anyone can die, Crack Treated Seriously, Eventual Giant Monster Fights, Gen, Some angst, Will Byers mutated INTO Godzilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:49:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorpooandtheTURDIS/pseuds/DoctorpooandtheTURDIS
Summary: It's been months since the Fourth of July, and Godzilla keeps growing uncontrollably. While most of the scientists keeping watch over him are good people, some are getting cold feet, and a fear of him to boot, which can only end in tragedy. It's not all bad though, as there are new friends he's making, despite the obvious communication issues.Meanwhile, Will's old friends are mourning his mysterious disappearance. And the desperation to get him back will lead one of the group into the Devil's waiting arms.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Godzilla (Legendary | MonsterVerse) & Madison Russell, King Ghidorah & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Madison Russell, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler
Series: Go, Go, Godzilla [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045095
Comments: 13
Kudos: 13





	1. Lake Jordan's Monster

Doctor Vivienne Graham walked through the Lake Jordan compound, the teams of scientists all hard at work over all manner of machines. At first, studying the creature under the waves had been difficult. Normal equipment suited to the study of regular-size animals simply couldn’t make heads or tails of the titanic lifeform calling the lake home, and make no mistake, he was truly titanic. In the past few months alone, he went from being the ‘mere’ size of a larger dinosaur, to outclassing some buildings now. He’d gotten so large in fact, that the conservation and studying effort had to dig out the bottom of the lake and fill it with more water.

It made her heart swell, in a way. All these people from different walks of life coming together, united in their shared love for the natural world, to work out its most puzzling mystery, and make no mistake, it was _Puzzling_ indeed. And it was a mystery everyone in the compound was hard at work trying to pull apart. Biologists, mathematicians, physicists, all sorts of scientists.

And while Vivienne wasn’t a Nobel Prize winner like Serizawa, or graduated Summa Cum Laude from her university of choice like Chen, her job was just as important as anybody else’s. She had the duty of going around the base, making sure everyone received the resources they needed to keep this operation going smoothly, and in turn, making sure everyone was _working_ instead of playing paper football.

Vivienne’s first stop for her rounds of the day was the shared office of Doctors Gottlieb and Geizler. Gottlieb was a mathematician, the one who did most of the number crunching when it came to their studies. Geizler was a biologist like most of the rest of them, but he had the honor and distinction of coming up with a way to harvest samples from the specimen in the lake without causing pain or lasting damage, something that even Serizawa respected.

She strode through the door of the trailer, and instantly, Vivienne’s ears were assaulted by the sound of the two men arguing. She sighed. Twenty-four seven, all day every day, the two argued about something or other. It was like they were an old married couple. They would’ve separated the two, but truthfully speaking, they actually got _more_ work done while in the same space as each other, their constant one-upmanship feeding into their motivation to do their jobs.

“…It’s every _bloody_ day with you, it’s incessant!” Gottlieb furiously hissed, German accent bouncing off the walls. “I told you, no samples on my side of the workspace, you know the rules-!”

“Well, if _you-!”_ Geizler pointed in retort, tie flicking angrily as he moved. “Didn’t leave your formulas on my side of the room, we wouldn’t have this problem! Don’t come to the playing field if you’re not ready, man!”

Vivienne looked around, a displeasured look on her face at the state of the workplace. The two had always been messy, but on this particular occasion, it looked like the two had deliberately made a mess of things to piss each other off. A box labeled ‘PEPE SILVIA’ was overturned on the floor, papers scattered everywhere, as samples recovered from the lake were strewn about just as haphazardly over the tables and desk.

The chalkboard even had a cartoonish drawing of Gottlieb, with a speech bubble coming from his mouth, the words ‘I’M A POOPYHEAD’ written in chalk.

Vivienne sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, before she cleared her throat.

The two arguing men instantly slammed on the breaks, heads snapping over to Vivienne.

“Oh, Doctor G.” Geizler nonchalantly addressed, leaning on his desk. “Didn’t see you come in.”

Gottlieb thwacked him with his cane. “You’re addressing a superior, show some respect!”

Geizler snorted, a sardonic grin on his face. “What do you think this is, the military? We’re scientists, Hermann, not G.I. Joe.”

Gottlieb seethed with rage. “Newton, I have asked you not to refer to me by my first name, we have been over this-“

“Yeah, yeah-“

“Ten years detriment-“

“’ _Ten years of experience and I am very tired!’_ ” Geizler cut him off with a deep, gravely, mocking voice, spazzing around for emphasis.

Vivienne cleared her throat again, raising her hands to calm them down. “Gentlemen,” Though she was remiss to refer to them as such, the way they were acting like children in the school playground, “Maybe you’d like to save your spat until _after_ I leave?”

“Oh, yeah, sure thing, Doc.” Geizler quickly dropped all pretense of arguing, pushing himself off the table, going to fetch something from his side of the room. “Finally got those test results on the latest scale sample.” He handed her the piece of paper. “You’re not going to believe this,” The man gushed as Vivienne did a quick skim of the document, “Scale hardness is up by three- _hundred_ percent since the last test we ran. He’s got stronger natural armor than most _aircraft_ carriers. Isn’t that awesome!?”

Vivienne’s eyebrows shot up, as she read the paper. ‘Completely impervious to small-arms fire, anti-armor weaponry, and explosives’ was the exact quote on the page.

“’Awesome,’ perhaps in the _biblical_ sense.” Gottlieb retorted, turning to Vivienne. “Doctor Graham, when you deliver that report to Serizawa, please send him back down here. I’ve got something… important, that needs his attention.”

Geizler huffed, rolling his eyes. “Why not _tell_ the lady what it is, like a _normal_ human being?”

“I hate repeating myself, which seems to be something you can’t understand given your constant incessant-!”

“ _I’ll_ -“ Vivienne cut him off with a raised voice before another argument could ignite. “Get this to him and tell him to come back.”

“Good.” Gottlieb nodded thankfully. “Actually, send for Chen as well. Actually, all three of you come back.”

Vivienne’s eyebrows raised. “It’s that important?”

“It’s that _concerning._ ”

\------------

Vivienne walked down the aged wood planks of Lake Jordan’s former boat jetty. At the end of it, stood an older Japanese man, holding a cup of coffee.

“Latest report from Newt for you.” Vivienne said by way of greeting, handing Serizawa the page.

The Japanese man smiled gratefully as he took it, a look of humorous pity twinkling behind his irises. “Were they going at it again?”

Vivienne sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes. I don’t know what we should do at this point. Break them up, or hold a wedding?”

Serizawa let out a low chuckle. “If it is the second option, _I_ am not the one paying for it.”

Vivienne laughed, looking out to the lake. “The waves are calm this morning.”

“Gojira is still asleep.” Serizawa recognized.

Vivienne looked at him, searching. “Bad day?”

“It would seem so.”

The giant lifeform in the lake was active most days, but every once in a while, he’d just… stop. Go still. The first time it happened, there was a panic because they thought he was dead, but no… just sleeping. Like a human in the middle of a depressive episode almost, he just couldn’t muster any energy to move. When they tried to rouse him from it the first time…

The poor scientist quit on the spot.

They learned then and there to let Godzilla have his bad days in.

Vivienne hummed, looking contemplatively into the lake. “I wonder what he dreams about…”

\--------------

Will sniffed, the scent of frying bacon floating through the air, intruding into his room from the kitchen. His eyes opened, and his stomach rumbled, as he woke up with a pleasant smile on his face.

Throwing off the blankets, he walked through the halls of his house, into the kitchen. His mother was at the stove and turned to him with a smile on her face.

“Good morning, sweetie.” Joyce kindly smiled. “Did you have a good sleep?”

“Amazing.” Will answered.

“Good. Eat up.” She passed the plate off to him. “You going to go to Mike’s later?”

“Yeah,” Will nodded enthusiastically, “Probably.”

“Well, I’m glad. It’s been a while.” Joyce replied. “Don’t forget to wake up.”

“Huh?” Will looked up.

“Wash up.” Joyce repeated.

“No… you said-“

The eyes of the giant lifeform resting inside Lake Jordan snapped open.

Will, or Godzilla as the scientists up there were calling him now (Steve’s name for him was the one that stuck, who knew?), let out a deep, rumbling sigh, vibrating hundreds of gallons of water in front of him.

He missed them all, so much. Don’t get him wrong, these new scientists were all lovely, amazing people, but…

They weren’t the old friends he knew.

“Hey!” A tiny voice on the surface called, and he stirred up water moving to the source. “Big G!”

He smiled slightly, as he surfaced.

A girl, no more than twelve or thirteen, stood on the pier, waving up at him. Madison, the kid of one of the scientists that came here to study him.

Her first day here, she ignored all warnings of her parent and the security advisors and got close to the lake. The ground had given on the edge, and she’d fallen into the deep end, and since she had no experience swimming…

He’d been the one to rescue her, effortlessly lifting her out, onto the dry ground without prompting. While the others were terrified, and Maddie herself had been shaken, none of it came from him. In fact, that had been the first time she’d seen him, and while the others to lay eyes on him had all been terrified at first, behind her eyes, there was nothing but pure curiosity and innocence.

She kind of reminded him of El, in that way. Boundless curiosity for the world tempered by absolutely nothing. She kept coming back around since then, and while the other scientists talked about him, or talked to him, Maddie was the only one who felt like she was talking _with_ him, language barrier be damned.

He shook off the water, and bent down slightly, as Madison sat down on the pier.

“I got a new book for us today.” She said, flipping through the pages. “It’s all about dinosaurs. You’d know something about dinosaurs, wouldn’t you?”

He made an iffy motion with his hand.

“You know a little.” Maddie guessed. “Hm… have you fought a T-Rex?”

He shook his head.

“How about… let a Pterodactyl rest on your shoulder like a hawk?”

He shook his head again.

The girl huffed, crossing her arms. “Then so far, I’m _not_ impressed.”

 _‘Well,’_ He wanted to say, _‘I_ did _vaporize a monster made of melted-down humans, saved a group of my friends, and saved the world in the process.’_

He settled on a huff, shaking his head one last time.

“It does make me wonder, though…” Maddie considered. “If you were around at the time of the dinosaurs.”

He rumbled, shrugging.

“Yeah, not like you could tell me what period it was or anything.”

“Wow,” Madison’s father, Mark, quipped as he walked down the pier to join. “Enlightening conversation.” Madison had a long sarcastic streak, and looking at her father, it was obvious where she’d inherited it from. “Figure out if he arm-wrestled a T-Rex yet?”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “No. He won’t tell me. I think he might be embarrassed because he lost. Now,” Maddie turned to the book. “I’ll read out some stuff, and you rumble if it sounds like somebody you fought, okay?”

Will rumbled, rolling his eyes, but prepared himself.

Maddie was… enthusiastic.

\-----------

“In the beginning,” Gottlieb scribbled out the data onto the chalkboard, moving rapidly to the point where the others inside could barely keep up. “Godzilla was eighty feet tall, only a little over twenty-four meters, just a little smaller than Alamosaurus was believed to be. Fast forward three months, he’s up to one hundred. One month after that, one-hundred fifty. Two weeks, two-hundred feet. Doctor Serizawa,” Gottlieb addressed, stepping away from the chalkboard, “At his current rate of growth, we can expect to see Godzilla reach _skyscraper-_ level heights in the next month.”

Doctor Chen, not Serizawa, was the first to speak up after a tense moment of silence. “But… how? Anything that size should collapse under its own weight, not to mention the amounts of food it would have to eat.”

Gottlieb opened his mouth to respond, but Geizler beat him to the punch.

“See, there’s a funny story around that!” Geizler addressed.

“Newton-“ Gottlieb growled.

“Let me have the floor for a second, just a second.” Geizler gestured. Gottlieb sighed frustratedly and motioned for the man to continue. “ _Why_ is Godzilla such a fascinating living specimen to us?” He rhetorically posed aloud for the crowd. “It’s because he violates everything we understand about evolution and the natural world. Things as big as him don’t exist anymore because being bigger wasn’t viable. When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs struck, most of the plants started dying off because the impact blotted out the sun, and it was the _smaller_ organisms that survived because they didn’t need to consume as many calories.”

“Doctor Geizler.” Serizawa addressed. “Your point, please.”

“What if Godzilla _doesn’t_ consume food?”

The others blinked, lost for words

“See, this,” Gottlieb intruded, “Is where he starts to go _bonkers_.”

“The other day,” Geizler began, searching for some papers on his table. “I was playing around with some radiation equipment, and I found something I think you might find interesting.” He put a picture up on the wall, a surveillance feed showing Godzilla standing tall, firing a stream of blue fire from his mouth.

“His fire breath.” Vivienne recognized.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong!” Geizler pointed. “I was playing around with the imager, and it’s not fire at all! It’s a highly concentrated stream of nuclear radiation, contained well enough that someone standing as close to him as a couple of feet wouldn’t experience any lasting effects! His fire breath is more like ‘atomic’ breath! And then, I got to thinking, his body can’t just _produce_ radiation like that on its own, so I played around some more, and look!”

They blinked, as he flashed a paper in their faces.

“I don’t understand.” Chen glanced at him.

“It’s the background radiation level for Hawkins and the surrounding areas.” Geizler explained. “Look at the levels.”

“It’s zero.” Vivienne read.

“Don’t you see!?” Geizler excitedly rattled off. “There’s no such thing as ‘zero’ background radiation! Godzilla,” He turned to the window, pointing like he just made a massive breakthrough, “Is absorbing it all up like a sponge, and using _that_ for energy!”

Serizawa looked intrigued. “You are saying… Gojira… is radioactive?”

“W-Well,” Geizler gestured, “Technically… yes. B-But not at levels harmful to humans!” He amended. “His body’s using it all as energy to fuel his growth!”

“Which should only impress the severity of _my_ point.” Gottlieb hissed. “Without any way for us to slow his growth, Godzilla may very well become a problem we cannot control or destroy.”

Serizawa’s arms dropped to his side, as his demeanor became protective. “What do you mean… _destroy_?”

Gottlieb turned back to the board, “The rest of Godzilla’s body is following a similar trend to the rest of his growth. Every part of his body is becoming tougher at an almost exponential rate to support his own being. His scales have already become strong enough that the specialized equipment designed to harvest them had to be reworked. Given the rest of his growth, he will become strong enough to survive a blast equivalent to the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki with minimal, if any, scarring.” He turned back, looking to the others gravely. “If we don’t deal with Godzilla now, before he can become a threat… when he does become a threat, there will be _nothing_ on this Earth that can stop him.”

Serizawa stood, brimming silently with anger. “Gojira is not a threat.”

“As of right now.” Gottlieb shot back. “But what happens when he decides that something else is interfering with his habitat like that mall he smashed, hm? Should we hope, pray, that there aren’t people inside when the inevitable destruction hits? Doctor, Godzilla is a unique specimen, I understand… but he is _one_ life.”

Geizler raised a finger poking his head back into the conversation area. “A-And I do just wanna say, even though he’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, I _am_ working on something to deal with him, if we need it.”

Chen straightened up. “You _what_!?”

“I-I mean, it’s just in the drawing stages now, but-“

“Doctor Geizler.” Serizawa addressed. “Doctor Gottlieb. You both make good points. But we are _not_ killing Gojira. That is a _fact_. I encourage you to abandon that line of thought, at once.” He turned to Chen and Graham, gesturing, before he turned to exit.

“…right, good talk.” Geizler half-heartedly muttered as the others exit.

Gottlieb huffed, turning around to his chalkboards in a fit. “He’s going to get us all killed.”

“Ah, don’t be like that.” Geizler shook his head, turning back to his work. “He means well.”

“Yes, but how long until meaning well turns into another paving stone into Hell?” Gottlieb asked.

“Well, that’s why we’re working on this.” Geizler shot back. “Just in case. There is a bit of a hitch, though. If Serizawa’s not willing to bankroll it, where are we gonna get the money?”

“I’m sure the military would be willing.” Gottlieb derisively huffed. “They love new things to kill people with.”

“Right, cool,” Geizler pointed at the other man with his glasses, “We go straight to the guys who were told _not_ to use the atomic bomb and give them a shiny new weapon. What do you think would be better on our tombstones? Inventors of Project Vacuum, or the two people responsible for the deadliest weapon since the Manhattan Project?”

Gottlieb bristled with barely contained exasperated fury. “I told you, Newton, it is-!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve told me a thousand times, but see, if we’re going to be taking this to the _military,_ ” Geizler replied, “It’s gonna need a snappy codename. Otherwise, the grunts won’t stop eating their crayons long enough to listen.”

Gottlieb growled. “Just get back to work.”

Geizler threw his hands up in resignation and turned back to his work.

In a fish tank on his desk, there swam a small school of fish, and at the bottom of the tank sat a sphere suspended by two metal rods coming from the sides.

Checking to make sure the tank was totally sealed, Geizler hit the button, and a series of holes on the sphere opened, allowing the substance inside to leak out. As it made contact with the water, the substance and the liquid reacted, causing a green glow.

All the fish in the tank abruptly stopped swimming, and floated to the top, dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	2. The Devil Has Three Heads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here we start getting to the real cool bits. When you get to it, I advise you click the link for some background listening.

“We are living… in an age of monsters.” Scott Clarke, Hawkins Middle School’s science teacher, and a generally good human being who valued all his students as individual people, began theatrically, like he was telling a scary story around a campfire. “’How can this be?’ I hear you ask, well-“ He turned to activate the projector. “Creatures larger than most vehicles,” He began, showing an image of a blue whale, “Plants that trap and eat their prey alive,” He showed a Venus flytrap, “…This thing.” He comedically timed, to no laughs, as he put up a picture of a Platypus.

Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair, the three of them the old friends of Will Byers, sat clustered together, a conspicuously empty desk next to them.

Will had vanished months ago, a few of his belongings missing, with a note telling them not to look for him. Even El, who’s odd psychic powers allowed her to locate people no matter where they might’ve been in the world, couldn’t find him, before the monster attacked and her powers went dead.

The entire group had been devastated. After all that pain, all of what they went through, and he just… left them. Then the events of the summer went down, Hopper had died, and Joyce had moved away, taking El with her.

To the outside world, the three projected an aura of calm and tranquility… but on the inside, they were all still mourning. One tiny spark of joy had been seeing the giant dinosaur lizard rip the Spider Monster to shreds, burning the hellish creature away with a sustained blast of his atomic breath, but soon that faded as well, making way only for more sorrow.

“Indeed,” Mister Clarke continued, unaware of the turmoil a group of his students were experiencing. “Mother nature has produced some pretty incredible stuff.”

A boy at the back, Troy, raised his hand.

“Yes, Troy?” Clarke asked.

“When are you going to talk about Godzilla?” The teenager pestered.

Ah, yes, the aforementioned dinosaur lizard. Ever since he made his trek through Hawkins, destroying the Starcourt Mall, and killing the Mind Flayer (though the world at large remained unaware of that small detail still), Godzilla had become the one to truly put Hawkins on the map. Now that his existence was confirmed to the world at large, gawkers from all around the world came to the town for just a _chance_ at getting a picture of the giant.

Even some of the townsfolk, who thought Hawkins was the quietest town in history, now thought their town to be the coolest place on Earth. That simple fact, plus the new tourism industry, helped revitalize the town’s economy.

But despite all that… the three still didn’t feel any happier.

“We’ll be getting to him,” Clarke replied to Troy’s question, “Don’t worry.”

Mike sighed listlessly as he slid down in his seat.

Will would’ve loved this lesson.

\-----------

“It’s just…” Dustin muttered at lunch, picking aimlessly at the food on his tray. “I miss him, you know?”

Mike sat, staring down at his food tray. It felt wrong. Going to school without Will, talking to the others without Will…

It felt wrong without Will, period.

“What’re you dorks doing over here?” Max asked, the redhead flopping down in the seats next to them.

“Talking.” Lucas answered simply.

“Go away, Max…” Mike grumbled. It had been months, but he still hadn’t forgiven her for the relationship drama she’d caused with him and El. Max, in fairness, had meant well, trying to get El to realize she wasn’t dependent on Mike, but she’d done it in the most destructive, hurtful way possible, just to get Mike to squirm.

“Geez,” Max muttered, “Someone’s in a mood. It’s the first day of school, shouldn’t you guys be all ‘bring it on, tough guy?’ What, did somebody already pick you out of the crowd to give you a tough time? If they did, I swear to God-”

“It’s not that.” Lucas answered. “This is our last year in middle school… and Will isn’t here.”

“…I got it.” Max mumbled understandingly. Billy, even though he’d been a total jackass and a shitty excuse for a stepbrother, she still loved him, and was taking his death just as hard as the others were taking Will’s disappearance. “Least we all have each other, right?”

“Yeah.” Dustin agreed. “The Party sticks together, right?”

“…what does it matter anymore?” Mike quietly shook his head.

“Hey,” Lucas looked to him seriously, “You okay?”

 _“No,_ ” Mike replied like he was stupid. “Will’s _gone_ … and nobody but us seem to care.”

“We already looked for him, man…” Dustin despondently replied. “We can’t find him.”

“I don’t care!” Mike snapped, shooting to his feet, as the grief of the past few months finally boiled to the top and bubbled over. “Everybody else may have given up on him, but I haven’t!”

“Mike…” Max worriedly addressed. “What’ve you been doing the past few months?”

 _“I’ve_ been trying to look for Will!” Mike answered. “The rest of you guys have all abandoned him! When he vanished in ’83, did we stop looking for him then!? No!”

“Dude…” Lucas spoke up, trying to calm Mike down. “He ran away… He doesn’t want to be found anymore.”

“…Fine.” Mike shakily grabbed his backpack. “The rest of you guys want to give up on Will, okay, but I’m _not_. Guess we figured out who his _real_ friends are.” He hissed, spinning around.

Lucas shot to his feet, stopped by Max placing her hand on his arm. The girl shook her head, and Lucas sat down, sighing.

“…I haven’t seen him this bad since El vanished.” Dustin remarked quietly, as Mike stormed out of the cafeteria.

“Yeah…” Lucas agreed. “I don’t know which is worse, though…”

“Shouldn’t we be going after him?” Max asked, “Trying to calm him down?”

“Mike always got in moods like this when El had disappeared on us.” Lucas explained. “It’s like a storm… nothing can calm him down, the best thing to do is just… wait it out.”

Max nodded, looking to the door. “…Would he be wanting us to do this?”

Dustin looked to her, curious. “Huh?”

“If Will was still here…” Max elaborated. “Would he want all of us to sit around, sulking in our own misery?”

“…No.” Lucas answered after a moment. “He’d want us to remember him… but he’d want us to move on.”

“Then that’s it,” Max resolved, standing up. “We’re going to do something fun.”

Dustin huffed. “Like what?”

“Why don’t we make good on those visiting privileges that old Japanese guy and those scientists gave us?” The redhead answered, looking between both.

“You wanna go see Godzilla… without Mike?” Lucas asked.

“Mike can come if he wants.” Max shrugged. “But not if he’s gonna be a Debbie downer about everything.”

“…Alright, yeah, cool, I’m down.” Lucas answered.

“Sure,” Dustin echoed. “Not like I have anything better to do anyway.”

The three decided on that, as the bell began to ring, signaling that the next period had begun. All they had to do now was make it through the rest of the day.

\-----------

The door creaked shut behind Mike as he walked into his house, having skipped out on school for the rest of the day.

“Ted?” Mike’s mother called from the kitchen. “Is that you?” She came around the corner, stopping, and looking angered once she realized who it was. “Mike… What are you doing home?”

“I…” Mike stammered. “I…” He finally gave in and let the waterworks flow now that no one else was around to make fun of him for it.

“Oh, Mike…” Karen pulled her son in, despite the fact that he was much taller than her now. “What’s wrong?”

“I miss him…” Mike cried, leaning into her shoulder. “I miss Will so much… He should’ve been at school today. And now it feels like the only one who cares he’s gone is me…”

“Aw, Mike…” Karen murmured. “If you didn’t feel up to going to school today, you should’ve said something.”

“I know, it’s just…” Mike replied. “I couldn’t miss the first day.”

“I think you have a good excuse.” Karen replied, pulling back. “Why don’t you and I find something to do? Take your mind off things?”

“Thanks, mom, but…” Mike swallowed. “I just wanna be left alone.”

“…Alright.” Karen nodded reluctantly. “Go on up to your room. I’ll call you down when dinner’s done.”

Mike nodded, and pulled himself up the stairs, going down the hall to his room. He threw his backpack on the floor, and flopped down in his bed, face down, as he just let the tears fall freely.

Before he knew it, he was gone, deep in sleep.

\------------

Buildings burned and smoke cascaded through the air, as sirens wailed far in the distance, most of the cityscape reduced to rubble as an earthquake rumbled the streets.

Mike, dazed and confused, ran down the streets, as the shocks intensified.

Red lightning sparked overhead as the Mind Flayer’s shadowy, spiderlike form coalesced out of the storm, tearing into buildings, and ripping people apart from the inside out.

Mike huffed, lungs on fire from the dust floating in the air, as he tried to get away from the beast.

An ear-piercing roar shattered the comparative silence, as the earthquakes got so intense, Mike was thrown to the ground. Glass shattered, as the last buildings holding themselves up fell, brought down by the force of the rumble.

Godzilla stood tall, larger than any building in the city, as he looked down at Mike specifically.

Hatred boiled in the titanic creature’s eyes, as he brought up his leg.

Mike whimpered, curling into a ball, closing his eyes. He couldn’t run, not anymore.

Godzilla brought his leg down, and Mike knew no more.

\--------

Mike’s eyes snapped open, as he shook in his bed, shivering in fear. He turned to the clock by his bedside.

It was only four. Good, least his sleep schedule wouldn’t be totally ruined.

He rubbed his face, getting up, heading down the stairs.

Karen noticed him coming down and glanced at him. “Feeling any better?”

“A little.” Mike answered. He felt recharged, but not _better_ per se.

“Good.” Karen smiled. “Your friends came by, they said they were going to go to the lake.”

The Lake… that probably meant Lake Jordan to see Godzilla. Odd. They hadn’t visited since that one time to say thanks. And funny how it happened just after his dream…

“Okay…” Mike nodded. “I guess I’ll go join them.”

“Alright, but,” Karen pointed, “You bundle up and get home by dark. It’s supposed to be extra cold tonight.”

“Got it.” Mike responded, silently cursing December weather. Not that he hated it, but he felt angry, and it wasn’t like he could take it out on his mom. “Bye.”

“Bye!” Karen raised her voice after him as he left. “Stay safe! Love you!”

Mike, notably, didn’t return it, even as he shut the door.

\--------------

Mike rode his bike down the streets of Hawkins. Despite what he told his mother, he did _not_ intend on joining the others in visiting Godzilla. Rather, he was just taking an aimless ride.

His path saw him pass by many places, through the heart of town, even to the outskirts of town, to the old Sattler Quarry. It had been filled in, ever since they found the ‘kid’ (in actuality Will’s fake body) at the bottom, but most still stayed away from it.

It was a quiet place though, good to think.

Mike rolled to a stop, letting his bike fall to his side, as he walked to the edge, looking out onto the water.

For about half an hour, Mike just sat there, stirring in silence. No talking to himself, no anguished declarations to the heavens unlike the movies, he just… sat.

He closed his eyes, and swallowed, getting to his feet and grabbing his bike. [Something](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrae8w5anwI) caught his attention, however.

 _“Michael…”_ Three ghostly, whispering voices all echoed in his ear at once, _“Michael…”_

Mike dropped his bike, searching around. “Who’s there?”

 _“This way, Michael…”_ The voice called, and Mike found his attention being drawn to the woods.

The teenager felt the compulsion to follow the voice, and despite his better judgement and instincts screaming at him that whatever this was was not to be trusted, Mike gave in, and walked into the woods.

It took all of five minutes, before the ground gave way beneath him, and he began to fall. It was a deep, enormous chamber that he found himself in, rather like the Gate chamber in the lab before it had been closed and sealed. And despite the fact that he was falling, Mike found his descent to be slow, almost graceful, as he settled down.

“What the-?” Mike quickly whipped around. “What is this place!?”

The shadows stirred, the ground and air beginning to rumble as something moved in the darkness. Whatever it was… it was _enormous._

“Who’s there!?” Mike anxiously called.

Sparks, like yellow lightning, came arcing off the entity’s body, lighting up the space, and Mike stood, frozen in awe.

It had three heads, all resembling eastern dragons, with long, snake-like necks, spikes running down the dorsal surfaces of each one. Its skin was a yellowy-gold color, almost sickly, and two wings instead of arms poked out of its almost bipedal body.

 ** _“We…”_** The creature spoke in Mike’s mind, **_“Are the One Who is Many. We… are King Ghidorah.”_**

All three heads stopped their writhing in the air, as its body stood up, standing tall over Mike like a building.

Even Godzilla would be dwarfed by Ghidorah.

“What…” Mike fearfully breathed, knowing full well the vast lifeform before him could end his life with but a mere gesture. “What _are_ you?”

 ** _“We… are this world’s last hope.”_** Ghidorah answered, the red eyes on each head looking down individually at Mike.

Mike was, nevertheless, intrigued. “What?”

 ** _“What do you know of the one your kind calls… Godzilla?”_** It spoke the name with a derisive, borderline hateful tone of voice.

“It’s a giant monster…” Mike answered, letting the ‘like you’ part go unspoken, in case Ghidorah took offense. “It saved my friends lives. He’s an alright guy.”

 ** _“Make no mistake, Michael Wheeler.”_** Ghidorah addressed, eyes narrowing. **_“It may have saved your lives… but it is not to be trusted.”_**

Mike blinked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What do you mean? It helped us.”

 ** _“The peoples of the universe know it by many titles. The Beast, the Great Deceiver, the World Eater...”_** One of Ghidorah’s heads, the leftmost one, tilted as the creature listed off the titles. **_“It goes from planet to planet, helping assist in a great crisis, earning the trust of the local lifeforms. Then, when it reaches a point of strength where it cannot be stopped… it destroys them all. If your people are not careful, the same fate will befall your planet, Michael Wheeler.”_**

Mike stepped back, going cold with just how casually Ghidorah threw his name around. “…How do you know my name?”

 ** _“We have slumbered here for eons, listening, waiting.”_** Ghidorah answered. **_“Waiting for the return of the False Deity.”_**

“Wait… you’ve been here, waiting for _Godzilla_?” Mike questioned. “Why?”

 ** _“Our battle is as old as time itself.”_** The centermost head snorted, blasting warm air throughout the chamber. **_“We do battle, destroy each other, then are reborn on a new world to continue the cycle. He will not rest until your world is destroyed… and we will not rest until_ he _is destroyed.”_**

“But… all these things you’re saying…” Mike stepped forward with a glare. “How do I know they’re true?”

**_“_ We _know what happened to your friend, Michael. The one you call… William.”_**

Mike gasped, face going slack in shock. “Will… what happened to him!? Is he okay!?”

 ** _“Alas… the Imposter God has already consumed him.”_** Ghidorah’s heads bowed regretfully.

Mike stood, freezing in horror. “Godzilla… killed Will?”

 ** _“Unfortunately… that is so. Your friend will be but only the first in a long line of deaths to come.”_** Ghidorah stated seriously.

“Will…” Mike breathed, staring off into space. With a newfound fire, and hatred burning in his soul, he looked up at Ghidorah properly. “What do you need me to do?”

 ** _“The World Eater grows in strength, but_ we _are still too weak to take flight.”_** Ghidorah answered. **_“However… there exists a way to kill the Beast.”_**

Mike’s gaze got steely. “What is it?”

 ** _“Your… scientists,”_** Ghidorah stated, like it had an aversion to the word, **_“Are formulating a weapon. The same scientists responsible for… ‘safeguarding’ the Destroyer. All you must do… is convince them.”_**

“And how do I do that?” Mike questioned.

 ** _“Simply speak to them.”_** Ghidorah explained. **_“The scientists,”_** Images of two men, one walking with a cane, the other with rolled up sleeves and a sloppy tie, intruded into Mike’s mind, “ ** _developing the weapon already know it must be used… you will simply accelerate the time frame.”_**

“Right…” Mike committed the faces to his mind. “And when I do this… Godzilla’s going to die?”

 ** _“The Beast will perish.”_** Ghidorah confirmed. **_“And your world will be saved.”_**

Mike stood there for more than a few moments, contemplating. It made sense, in a way. Will wasn’t the type of person to run away for too long, he was just too caring a soul. He would’ve come back… unless something had killed him.

Something like Godzilla.

In Mike’s mind, that settled it.

“…Then I’ll do it.”

The giant lizard was going to _pay_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	3. Bio-Latte

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Biollante fans, this one goes out to you.

“It just _sucks,_ G!” Maddie bemoaned, resting on Will’s snout, flopping against the giant creature. The first time she pulled that stunt consciously, Mark had a heart attack, Chen and Graham looked like they were _this_ close to laughing, and Serizawa looked jealous that _he_ wasn’t the one who got to be doing it.

The two (Maddie really) had been reading most of the day, until Mark had called her away to talk about something.

Though they had gone somewhere out of earshot for _humans_ , Will was perfectly capable of hearing them, clear as day. And to be frank, he couldn’t blame them for wanting to do it away from him.

Mark and his ex-wife Emma had been going through some… messy stuff. Their son had passed away from leukemia, leaving just Maddie, but something like that, regardless of which child was left behind…

It destroyed relationships. He knew that because he’d seen Hopper go through it. Well, not firsthand, but apparently, Hopper in New York was a totally different man to who he’d been in Hawkins.

Maddie pulled her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. “I don’t want to go back to my mom.”

Will wanted to huff. _‘It’s just for the week.’_ He would say, because that was the truth. In all honesty, he went longer stretches of time not talking to the others during the summer. Well, not last summer… he was already big and scaly at that point in time.

“I’ve had so much fun here.” Maddie continued, “Everybody here’s so nice, and they always talk to me…”

Will minutely tilted his head, not enough to send her careening into the water below, and he let the gesture be the vocalization he wished for. _‘Your mom isn’t nice?’_

“I know she loves me…” Maddie admitted. “But she’s so cold… distant. Even before Andrew…”

Will closed his eyes, and gently nodded. People showed love in different ways. But, then again, Emma was _fighting_ for the chance to see her daughter. That wasn’t the mark of a neglectful parent, in his mind. Not like Will’s father, who ran like the cowardly bastard he was and didn’t look back.

Who knows, the last time Maddie had seen her mom was before leaving with Mark, maybe that was the catalyst Emma needed to open up more?

Then again, he wasn’t a psychiatrist. No use thinking about it now.

Will huffed, sending out a blast of warm air. _‘I know you’re not happy. I’m not either. You’re my new best friend, I don’t wanna see you go. But she’s your mother, and she’s still around. She still wants to be around. That’s more than most have… more than_ I _have.’_

Maddie slowly nodded, “Yeah… I mean, I still love her. I don’t wanna forget about her completely.”

 _‘And when you get back, we can do something fun.’_ Will resolved to himself. _‘But what… ah, I’ll have the week to think of something… wait, when did you leave?’_

“I leave Friday.” Maddie unconsciously answered.

_‘Friday, that’s… the whole week! Come on, you can’t just act like it’s the end of the world when we still have the whole week to-!’_

“Holy shit!” A young, squeaky voice squealed in shock, and Will jumped.

It was Dustin, and Lucas, and Max… what were they _doing_ there?

“Whoa, whoa!” Maddie stumbled around, trying to keep from falling off. “Shit!”

“Hey!” Lucas shouted. “Let her down, asshole!”

Asshole? What? Did they think he was-

“Hey!” Maddie furiously bellowed down. “What’s the big idea!? Can’t a girl spend some time with her friends around here!?”

Dustin blinked, pointing up. “What, do you mean… he’s _not_ trying to eat you?”

“Wh-Wh- _Eat!?_ ” Maddie spluttered. “How the fuck is he supposed to eat me if I’m on _top_ of him, Brainiac!?”

Oh dear, she dropped the F-bomb. That meant she was really pissed. It was kind of heartwarming actually. It meant she was _that_ offended on his behalf.

If it wouldn’t have caused the lake to flood, he would’ve cried.

“Hey, cool it twerp!” Max hissed. “Before I go up there and I kick your ass!”

“I’d like to see you try, ginge!” Maddie hissed back.

“The fuck’d you just call me!?”

Will couldn’t take it anymore and let out a deep roar. Not at full volume, for if he had, he would’ve surely deafened them, but loud enough so they got the idea.

“Alright,” Dustin held up his hands, looking like he should’ve worn brown pants. “We’re calm, we’re calm.”

Will huffed, and nodded, bending down to let Maddie jump off his snout.

“There,” Maddie found her land legs, looking between them all. “Now… who the hell are you guys?”

“I’m Lucas,” The boy began, “This is Dustin. That’s Max.” He gestured.

“Madison.” The girl tersely replied, crossing her arms. “What are you doing here?” She questioned. “You aren’t anybody’s kids from around here.”

“Well,” Max crossed her arms, “We could ask you the same thing.”

“I have more of a right to be here than you guys.” Maddie retorted. “My dad _works_ here.”

“And _we,”_ Max returned, “Have visiting privileges.”

“Oh yeah,” Maddie sarcastically raised her eyebrow. “Well, aren’t you special?”

Will shook his head, sighing, blasting them all with warm air. The four all turned, looking up at him.

 _“Maddie…’_ He warned. _‘Play nice.’_

“Right…” Maddie sighed. “Maybe we should cool it down. So,” She turned to the rest of them, “I’m Maddie, Big G’s best friend thank you very much, who are you guys?”

\--------------

Mike pedaled as hard as he could down the road to Lake Jordan. He was a man on a mission. A mission of revenge against a monster that could squish him as easily as an ant under a boot, and he was a boy, not a man, but still, same difference.

He rolled up to the security gazebo on the road in front of the gate. Inside, there was a security guard, a black man in his late twenties/early thirties with a thick beard, Jackson Barnes. He was pretty much the security guard for the whole place.

Mike kinda pitied him. He signed onto the project to get a chance to see a real-life Kaiju up close, but because he wasn’t a scientist, he got stuck on doorman duty.

The man looked away from his security feed, showing Godzilla in the lake, turning to Mike. “Hey,” The man offered a charismatic crooked smile. “Was wondering when you’d show up. The rest of your buddies are already inside.” He hit the button to open the gate, allowing Mike access.

“Thanks, man.” Mike offered, pedaling inside.

Jackson sighed, hitting the button to close the gate. One of these days, he’d get to see Godzilla up-close.

\------------

Mike hopped off his bike, looking around the scientific compound. The lake was quite a way away, to the point where he could see the others, but not make them out beyond faint dots messing around with Godzilla.

Mike bristled. They were practically playing with fire… but he couldn’t say anything. Not here, with Godzilla so close.

Even the rest of the facilities, which had been set up far enough away from the lake so the scientists didn’t disturb Godzilla, would be still too close. He didn’t want to take any chances. Not with his friends.

He would’ve gone over and joined them but knowing what that thing did to Will… Mike couldn’t do it. He had to find those two scientists.

Doing a quick look around, Mike found the trailer he was looking for. How did he know it was the right one?

He could see the two through the window… and boy, they looked like they were in the middle of a _heated_ argument.

\---------------

“I am _telling_ you, Newton,” Gottlieb growled, shaking with frustration, “It’s _impossible_.”

“Impossible,” Geizler repeated, looking to Gottlieb, before going to the laptop-sized device on his desk. “Is just a ten-letter word! They thought going to the moon was impossible! And then they did it! Making everybody who said it was impossible,” He bent under his desk, attaching a thick cable into the power outlet, then to a piece of headgear that looked like a hard hat with metal braces on the side, “Look like a bitch!” He attached the other end of the cord into a port on the back of the hat, before putting it on his head. “Alright, now how do I look?”

“Like an _imbecile!”_ Gottlieb hissed. “Take that ridiculous thing off before you fry every neuron in that peanut you have for a brain!”

“Hermann,” Geizler turned to the scrapwork device, flicking a few switches on the front, typing something into the keyboard. “Fortune favors the brave, dude.”

“Bravery, stupidity, it’s the same thing in your case…” Gottlieb grumbled, “Very well,” He harrumphed, “When the contents of that head of yours -though I doubt there’ll be any, empty as it is- leak out all over the floor, I will _not_ be held responsible.”

Someone cleared their throat, and both rolled their eyes, looking over to the source.

Geizler blinked. “Oh.” He pointed awkwardly at the teenager. “You’re not a scientist, are you?”

Gottlieb’s eyes widened. “Intruder! We have an intruder!” He hurriedly limped over to the phone.

“Hermann!” Geizler berated, snatching the handset away. “That’s not the way we treat guests!”

“He’s in here uninvited and unsupervised-“ Gottlieb began to retort, snatching the phone back.

“He got through the front gate, genius!” Geizler retorted, snatching the phone away again, slamming it on the receiver. “You,” He pointed to the kid, “Appalling hair, what’s your name?”

The kid blinked. “Uh… Mike.”

“Mike,” Geizler bowed slightly. “If you don’t mind, my colleague and I are in the middle of a very important debate, so, if you could just go-“

Mike looked around the room, before the object on Geizler’s desk caught his attention. “Is that a ham radio?” He tilted his head curiously.

“What?” Geizler looked to the device, “Oh, this bad boy? Well, it _was_ a ham radio, but it’s been all pimped-out since we got it.” He looked to Mike, intrigued. “You know something about tech?”

“A bit.” Mike admitted. “I’m the _de facto_ president of the AV Club.”

“Well hell, why didn’t you say so!?” Geizler threw his hands up. “I always love talking shop with a fellow tech nerd!” He threw off his helmet, going to shake Mike’s hand. “I’m Newt.”

“ _Newton,”_ Gottlieb hissed.

“Will you relax!?” Geizler fired back. “He’s just a kid. Probably saw all the cool looking gadgets and couldn’t resist, am I right?” He directed to Mike.

Mike shrugged in response. “Yeah, a bit.”

“See?” Geizler turned to Gottlieb. “He’s cool.”

Gottlieb didn’t respond with actual words, letting out an angry growl as he turned away, going to do something, anything else.

“So,” Mike looked to the radio. “You said it was pimped-out.” He recalled, looking to Newt. “What for?”

“Well, that I can’t tell you,” Newt took off his glasses. “But it is pretty cool. …Alright, I’m gonna tell you.”

“NEWTON!”

“What’s he gonna do!?” Newt shot back. “Go and build a multi-million-dollar piece of prototype equipment in his garage!?” He rolled his eyes, turning back to Mike. “Alright, now, come check this out.” He guided Mike over to the radio. “I call it… ‘THE VOICE OF GOD!’” He theatrically threw his arms up. “’…Zilla.’”

Mike’s eyebrows knit together, as he took in the device that looked like it had been cobbled together from bits of old computers and whatnot. “Um… cool.”

“I know!” Newt gushed excitedly running his hands over the device.

“But what does it do?” Mike inquired. Was this the weapon that Ghidorah sent him out to convince them to use? It didn’t look threatening.

“Good question, and I’ve got a good answer!” Newt excitedly replied. “Almost every creature on Earth has the capability to produce soundwaves through their larynxes, that’s roars and bellows and stuff like that. But, something that’s _not_ common knowledge is that most things on Earth also naturally generate sound from their bodies!”

Mike blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“Bioacoustics!” Geizler answered. “Every cell of every creature is generating tiny, minute soundwaves. You can’t hear them, but you can feel them! That’s why, when someone is say having a bad day, or in a particularly good mood, you can sense it! The bioacoustics they’re generating change based on how they’re feeling!”

Gottlieb snorted. “It is a sorry excuse for a scientific discipline!”

“You’re just threatened because it means people can finally figure out how you work you flesh golem!” Newt retorted, turning back to Mike. “Anyway, we had a bit of a brainwave. Godzilla’s intelligent, at least, more intelligent than most other lifeforms in the animal kingdom, and he generates bioacoustics just like the rest of us. So we thought it was possible to take those incoming bioacoustics waves, and translate them into audible sound for us to hear what he’s thinking. And it’s not just Godzilla it can work on either.” Geizler continued. “We could talk to cats. We could talk to spiders. We could make the _cats_ talk to the _spiders!_ This one thing could revolutionize _everything_ we know about the animal kingdom! How pack structures work, how intelligent animals truly are! True communication between humans, and nature.

“Okay, that’s…” Mike slowly nodded, an excited smile on his face as well. “That is pretty cool.”

“It is.” Newt agreed, nodding as well.

“But,” Mike looked between the two, “Why’s it just you guys working on it?”

Gottlieb snorted. “It isn’t.” He harrumphed. “There’s another team working on _their_ version of the device. The ORCA. And it is _much_ better developed than his is.”

“Hey!” Newt pointed. “Mine is better than their shitty excuse for a whale boombox any day!” He turned to Mike. “See, all that _theirs_ does is take bioacoustics and convert it into sound. That’s boring. You can do that with any old sound. What _mine_ does,” He picked up the helmet attached to the power cable. “Is not only translate to sound, but it stimulates the _emotional_ centers of the brain using a very complex array of electrical transmitters.”

Mike looked to the man, wary. “That doesn’t sound safe.”

“Precisely _my_ argument.” Gottlieb agreed, glaring at Newt. “You’ll kill yourself trying to work this machine.”

“Oh, relax.” Newt replied, fixing the helmet to his head. “It’s perfectly safe.”

“It’s uncontrolled volts of electricity being _routed through your head haphazardly!”_ Gottlieb shot back vehemently, slamming his cane against the floor for emphasis.

“It wouldn’t _be_ uncontrolled if somebody had just let me attach the electrodes to my brain _directly,_ like I had intended from the _start!_ ”

“I’M NOT LETTING YOU SCALP YOURSELF SO YOU CAN STICK SPIKES IN YOUR BRAIN!” Gottlieb bellowed.

“Yak, yak, yak.” Geizler made the motion with his hand, before turning to the console.

“Wait,” Mike blinked, “Are you about to-“

“NEWTON, STOP!”

“Sorry!” Newt shouted back. “Can’t hear you over the sound of me making history!” He replied, flicking the main power switch. The modified radio began to beep and buzz, as a tiny screen on the device showed a waveform reading of Godzilla’s bioacoustics.

Gottlieb covered his face, as Mike looked on, transfixed.

“Yes…” Geizler breathed. “Yes… I hear something. I hear something! We’re getting a sentence! ‘The-‘”

The modified radio burst into flames, and Newt jumped.

“Shit!” The scientist cursed. “Shit damn hell!”

Mike scrambled into action quickly, grabbing a fire extinguisher. Pointing the hose and pulling the trigger, the retardant shot out, smothering the fire.

Gottlieb seethed with barely contained fury, face twisted in a frowning grimace. “Newton, you blithering idiot!”

Newt coughed, wafting away smoke in the air. “Obviously,” He glanced at Mike, gesturing to the device, “There’s still a kink or two that needs to be worked out. But, that’s science for you. Did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone in one go? No! Aw!” He looked with a grimace at the cup next to the radio. “The fire retardant got in my latte…” He muttered, picking up the cup with a devastated look, trying to brush the flame retardant off the top.

“So…” Mike looked around, at a loss for words. “This is what you guys do in here all day? Break things… and make questionable drink decisions?” He asked, as Newt went to take a sip from his cup, _flame retardant still in the coffee._

“No.” Gottlieb growled.

“You know it!” Newt answered enthusiastically over the other man. “Hey, wanna check out some more cool toys?” The man asked, obviously passionate about his work and jumping at the chance to show it off to a curious mind.

Mike, somewhat infected by the man’s enthusiasm himself, shrugged theatrically. “Sure.”

“Alright, well, take a look at this!” Newt guided Mike over, as Gottlieb let out a frustrated sigh, going back to his side of the room to get some work done. The biologist guided him to a cylindrical tank standing in the corner of the room, a UV light fixed to the top, a rose bush growing at the bottom.

“What’s this?” Mike inquired curiously.

“This,” Newt gestured with both hands to the plant with an excited smile, “Is a very special plant. See, what we did was take a rose and gave it the growth characteristics of kudzu.”

“Alright…” Mike nodded in understanding. “Why?”

“Well, have you ever been to Georgia?” Newt replied.

Mike shook his head.

“The stuff is everywhere there!” Newt stated, throwing his hands up. “Whole acres of kudzu smothering trees! And then, that got me thinking. It’s a starchy plant, but we really don’t _eat_ it outside of Japan. So then, I figured, if we could take the genes of the plant and apply them to _other_ plants, say like corn, or carrots, or whatever, then in areas of the world where the soil is almost too dead to sustain other plants, all they have to do is let it go wild, and voila! Hunger solved!” He giggled excitedly at the plant. “She’s my little Bio-latte. Yes, you are…” He baby-talked, rubbing the glass of the plant’s container. “Yes, you are!”

“That sounds…” Mike began, looking to Newt. “Ambitious.”

“Hey, shoot for the moon, kid.” Newt patted him on the shoulder. “If you miss, you still end up in the stars.” He looked back to the plant. “Haven’t quite been able to apply it to other plants though… still, it’s a start.”

Mike nodded, as something else caught his attention. A small glass of clear liquid, with a sealed top, sitting on the desk. Curious, he went to check it out.

“Hey, look but don’t touch,” Newt directed, “That’s a very dangerous chemical.”

Mike looked back to him. “What is it?”

“Well, right now it’s _inert,_ ” Newt replied, moving the container away. “And that’s what’s important.”

“But what _is_ it?” Mike inquired.

“It’s a chemical that reacts… violently with oxygen.” He carefully stated. “It’s in liquid form now, but if it made contact with water…”

Mike looked to the man more than a bit worried. “What?”

“…You know how matter and antimatter wipe each other out?”

Mike blinked. “Oh.” That must’ve been the weapon Ghidorah said they were developing. Now, how to get them to use it…

“Yeah, oh, so let’s just get this out of the way…” Newt moved the container out of the way.

“Why do you have something like that?” Mike asked, trying to fish for info first.

“It’s a side-project,” Newt evasively answered.

“It’s a weapon!” Gottlieb hissed.

“It’s a _contingency plan!_ ” Newt hissed back, before looking to Mike. “Well, yeah, if you _have_ to know, it is a… thing we can use to solve problems by causing death.”

“…for Godzilla?” Mike ‘guessed.’

“Good eye.” Newt sighed, rubbing his face. “Yeah, we have this because we’re scared the big guy in the lake is gonna wake up with some _major_ PMS issues. Don’t worry though, we’re not gonna use it just yet. Not until he’s a threat.”

“…why not?” Mike asked.

Newt blinked, tilting his head. “Sorry? What’d you just say?”

“Um…” Mike stuttered. “I had a friend, Will… he ran away a few months ago, but he wasn’t the type of person who could stay away for long. We tracked him out here to the lake before people started seeing Godzilla, and then he just… vanished. All his stuff was scattered around here too… and then Godzilla walked out of the lake and smashed up the town.”

“What are you trying to say?” Newt inquired

“No, I understand where this is going…” Gottlieb said, looking to Mike. “Young man… you believe Godzilla killed your friend?”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded.

“…we did find traces of human DNA in his saliva…” Newt muttered with a knit brow. “We never could figure out where it came from…”

“He’s already killed _one_ person.” Mike stated. “A teenager.”

“Then that’s all I need!” Gottlieb resolved, moving in a huff around the lab. “Newton, get the prototype delivery mechanism ready for a demonstration! We’re going to the military with it, yesterday!”

“…yeah…” Newt blankly muttered. “Yeah, okay.” He swallowed, turning around. “Thanks kid, you can go.”

As Mike turned to leave, he tried not to look to his friends, over at the lake, messing around with Godzilla. When they found out, they wouldn’t be happy. They wouldn’t understand why he had to do this.

But, if it meant they were all safe, it was a small price to pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry... something tells me we haven't seen the last of the genetically-engineered plant just yet.
> 
> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	4. Monster Zero

Mike pedaled out of the Lake Jordan compound down the way he came back to the quarry. Night was starting to fall, and truthfully, he wanted to be back home in his bed after the bombshell that Ghidorah had dropped, but he needed to talk to the creature first, let it know he had succeeded.

Letting his bike fall to the side, Mike walked over large roots, through the bushes, to a hole in the ground. Taking a breath, falling back on Ghidorah’s word that he’d be able to come and go safely, Mike took a step, and plunged into the hole.

It was a deep, dark fall, the cavern being more than large enough to hold Ghidorah. After a few seconds of slow descent, Mike hit the floor. He couldn’t guess what made it safe, but he didn’t suppose he should really think about it.

“Ghidorah?” Mike called into the darkness.

The shadows stirred, yellow sparks radiating off the enormous life form as three heads raised to meet Mike.

Mike gasped in confusion for a moment. It had only been a few hours, at most, and though its wings had been small and stumpy, they were huge now, more than enough to support Ghidorah’s massive body.

 ** _“You have returned…” _**The three voices spoke as one in Mike’s mind. He hadn’t noticed it at the time, shocked as he was seeing a giant monster, but Mike noted that each voice was unique, not merely the same one echoing. One sounded like a woman, the other sounded deep and booming, and the last was high-pitched and scratchy. **_“Has the task been accomplished?”_**

“Well, kind of.” Mike stammered.

The center head’s eyes narrowed, leaning down. _“Elaborate.”_ She demanded. There was no way for Mike to tell if the voice corresponded to that head, or if it was a ‘she’ at all, but for now, that was all he could go on.

“W-Well, they have a weapon,” Mike explained, “But it’s just a prototype right now. And they don’t want to use it themselves. They want to give it to the military for them to use when Godzilla goes bad.”

 _“Hm…”_ The center head rose tall. _“A pity.”_

 ** _“We had hoped you would be able to convince your scientists to deploy the weapon tonight.”_** Ghidorah stated as one.

“Yeah, well, there’re people at that research outpost.” Mike retorted. “They can’t use it to kill Godzilla without people being caught in the cross-fire.”

 ** _“…Unfortunate.”_** Ghidorah replied. **_“We cannot delay. Every moment is another where the Destroyer grows stronger.”_**

“Well…” Mike shrugged cluelessly. “It’s out of my control now.”

 ** _“…then you have played your part to completion.”_** Ghidorah decided after a moment. **_“It is time we take to the skies… we have no further use for you, Michael Wheeler.”_**

Lightning began to spark within and off Ghidorah’s body, as the air in the chamber stirred like a hurricane.

Mike stumbled back, being blown by the sudden gusts. He held up his hands to shield himself, as the ceiling of the cavern was ripped off, floating high in the night air. Clouds swirled overhead, sparking with sickly yellow unnatural lightning.

Mike felt dread bubbling in him, as Ghidorah’s wings began to flap, the enormous creature lifting itself off the ground. “What are you doing!?”

 ** _“The plan has been set into motion. You are no longer of use to us.”_** Ghidorah growled. **_“And now… your world shall perish.”_**

“W-Wait!” Mike shouted over the roaring wind, shielding his eyes. “You said you were here to help!”

 ** _“No. We said we were here to kill Godzilla.”_** Ghidorah retorted. **_“And then, when he is gone… your world will be ours. Goodbye, Michael… your people will not remember you, but we shall. The one who so gladly assisted us…”_**

With a single flap of its titanic wings, Ghidorah shot up, through the new hole in the ceiling of the cavern.

The entire space began to shake as Ghidorah took to the sky, rain that certainly hadn’t been building for long now falling in buckets, as the massive quantities of dirt Ghidorah had lifted away fell back into the space.

Mike covered his head and shielded himself as the world went dark.

\------------

“Damn!” Newt cursed, behind the driver’s seat of a ford pickup, as rain began to pour down from nowhere. “This shit came out of nowhere!”

“How about you _check the weather report,_ Newton?” Gottlieb hissed in response.

“Hey!” Newt angrily retorted, over the squeaking windshield wipers. “It doesn’t take a weatherman to know that clear skies with no clouds don’t produce rain like this!”

Thunder rumbled overhead, as a flash illuminated a figure high in the sky.

Newt’s eyebrows knit in befuddlement. “What the…?”

“Honestly, Newton-“

“Hermann…” Newt addressed.

“If you just kept up with the news for once in your life-“

“Hermann!” Newt bellowed. “Look!”

Gottlieb followed the man’s pointed finger, and looked out, as another flash of lightning cast a silhouette of something massive flying through the air. Like a dragon, almost, with three heads.

“Good _God_ …” Hermann breathed.

\----------

That night, late December, a most unnatural storm formed over the town of Hawkins. A hurricane, of colossal magnitude, formed over dry land, shrouding not only Hawkins, but an area of countless miles around, deep in wet, windy darkness.

And at the eye of that storm, moving with the storm, was King Ghidorah, on a direct path for one place in particular.

\---------

In one of the larger buildings that was in the compound, everyone that was part of the conservation effort gathered in safety, securing the windows, prepping the emergency kits just in case, and getting ready for the long haul.

“We’re on the high ground.” Vivienne explained to the teenagers gathered around. “If there’s any flooding or the like coming from the lake, we’ll be fine.”

Dustin was the first one to nod his understanding. “But we can’t go home.”

Vivienne smiled disarmingly. “Not if you want to bike home in hurricane-force winds. There’s a phone in the back you can use to call your homes. I suggest you do that before we might lose power.”

A door at the end of the building opened, and Maddie’s father came running in, slamming it shut after them against the wind as he huffed.

“Okay…” Mark pushed off wiping water off his face. “We got everything put away. Barnes is taking one last look around to check.”

Serizawa, who was sitting in a chair, fiddling with an emergency radio, nodded. “Has anyone heard from Gottlieb or Geizler?”

Chen shook her head. “No.”

“Then we can only hope they made it out of town before the storm hit.” Serizawa stated to himself. He hit a switch on the radio, and it crackled to life.

The emergency alert sound crackled through the speakers, trilling loudly. _“The national weather service has issued an emergency alert for Roane County Indiana. This includes the city of: Hawkins. At 6:48PM, Eastern Daylight Time, national weather service meteorologists detected a severe storm system forming above Roane County, capable of producing winds in excess of one-hundred-forty-seven miles per hour.”_

Maddie frowned as the voice continued talking. “But… It was sunny. Totally sunny.” She looked to her father. “Clear skies all week--it said on the news.”

“Yeah…” Mark quietly agreed, brow furrowing.

“Something about this storm…” Serizawa leaned on the desk his eyebrows knit together in concern. “Is unnatural.”

As the people in the room thought about what exactly that meant, everything went quiet.

Max’s head turned to the others. “Did everything just go dead quiet for you guys too?”

Chen looked up. “The eye of the storm…”

The glasses and small objects scattered around the room began to rattle, before the entire room rumbled like an earthquake was occurring, as the people inside were thrown to the floor, as the lights went dead.

“Damn!” Lucas cursed. “That thunder’s not playing around!”

Serizawa looked up, as the rumbling continued, but at a much more… deliberate pace. “It’s not thunder…” He recognized, shooting to his feet to run outside.

The others followed him out onto the porch of the building, freezing, as they saw the enormous three-headed creature crawling around, using its wings as forelimbs, two spiked tails swinging around like they were wrecking balls.

“God Almighty.” Mark breathed, pulling Madison close.

The titan stopped walking, turning to the building. Its eyes narrowed, and those on the porch all gulped.

It saw them.

\-----------

Will’s eyes snapped open as he felt it. The electricity in the air, dark, twisted, and unnatural. Like the Mind Flayer’s presence had been, only… different. Not weaker, but merely powerful in a different way.

He barred his gigantic, spiked teeth, and growled.

Whatever this was, it was evil. And it would _not_ succeed in whatever it was here to do.

Not if he had his way.

\--------------

“Everybody, don’t move…” Mark guided, as Ghidorah began to crawl on the ground towards them. “Stay absolutely still.”

“What good is that gonna do?” Max hysterically asked in response, as the tremors caused by Ghidorah’s footsteps got ever stronger.

“…I don’t know.” The man admitted. “I’m just really, really hoping for the best.”

As Ghidorah approached, the tremors reached earthquake levels yet again, before more tremors cut through the ground.

Ghidorah abruptly stopped, but the other tremors kept happening. It turned around, all three heads snarling at the sight before them.

Godzilla, still dripping water, marched out of the lake, standing tall with his face twisted in a hateful grimace.

All three heads chittered and snarled, before they all let out a high-pitched, almost laughing roar, standing a good hundred feet taller than Godzilla.

Godzilla growled, and responded with a roar of his own, deep, thunderous, and full of rage.

“Alright!” Serizawa shouted over the ringing of their ears. “Now we run!” He ordered, the others scrambling with him, as they crossed the grounds of the compound.

Ghidorah took Godzilla’s roar as an invitation to begin, and charged, running across the ground, crushing countless plants under its colossal footsteps.

Godzilla charged as well, arms outstretched, before he jumped, trying to tackle Ghidorah. The impact rang throughout the area like a gunshot, as the two titans were sent falling, crushing one of the old buildings still around from the days where the lake was open to the public under their weight.

“Run!” Mark ordered, looking over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure everyone was still there. “Hurry!”

“The van!” Chen pointed to a vehicle sitting there, a Chevy van. She hopped into the driver’s seat, Serizawa taking the passenger side, while Vivienne opened the rear doors, ushering the kids and Mark in the back before she climbed in.

“Drive!” Vivienne ordered once they were all in.

Chen threw the vehicle into gear, slamming her foot on the gas, and mud was sent flying into the air as the van peeled away.

Ghidorah snarled, the leftmost head clamping down on Godzilla’s arm. The other titan let out a pained screech as he was thrown off.

Godzilla staggered, clutching the bite wound on his shoulder, as Ghidorah got back to its feet. Ghidorah let out that same, chittering, laughing roar, like it was mocking the other titan, as it beheld the wound it caused.

Godzilla’s face twisted in fury, the titan growling as the temperature of the air around him began to rise. The dorsal plates running down his back began to glow blue, the air humming as they charged up.

The van full of humans tore down the road, coming to a screeching stop when they saw the man running down the road.

“Mister Barnes!” Serizawa recognized. “Get in, quickly!”

The man scrambled into the back, pulling down the hood on his raincoat, breathing heavily as the van began to move again. “Ah hell… ah hell…” He breathed heavily. “Tell me I’m not the only one who sees that thing or am I crazy!?”

“You’re not crazy.” Chen replied. “Although, you probably wish.”

“Right yeah,” Barnes breathed, “First it was a hurricane from nowhere, now it’s something bigger than the big guy! What _is_ that thing!?”

“Your guess is as good as ours.” Vivienne replied.

A flash of blue cut through the darkness of the night rain, as Godzilla fired his atomic breath, the beam pointed straight for one of Ghidorah’s necks.

The heads slithered through the air, dodging the blasts, before they looked to Godzilla, the inside of their necks glowing yellow. All of Ghidorah’s heads snarled, yellow beams of lightning shooting out of their mouths.

Godzilla, who was not as maneuverable as Ghidorah, found himself unable to dodge in time, and the beams struck him.

The titan fell to the ground, as it felt like gravity all around him was beginning to increase, making it impossible for even him to move.

“He’s down…” Maddie breathed in horror, looking out the back windows of the van. “G’s down!”

The reptilian titan attempted to move his head, looking up at Ghidorah. His dorsal plates began to pulse blue again, and he went to use his atomic breath again.

Ghidorah, however, wasn’t playing around. The moment it started happening, Ghidorah’s right head shot into Godzilla’s neck, clamping down.

Godzilla howled in agony, his atomic breath firing before it could become charged to the level he needed. The blue beam fizzled out, as Godzilla flopped to the ground, dark red blood beginning to seep out from his wounds.

“No…” Maddie looked out the window. “Come on, big guy, get up… get up!”

Godzilla raised his uninjured arm, but Ghidorah noticed that action as well, biting into it. Godzilla let out another agonized roar, before the last empty head shot forward, clamping down on the other side of his neck.

“GODZILLA!” Maddie howled in anguish, as she pressed against the window. She winced, the sight of the pain he was experiencing causing her similar sensations. Godzilla’s head turned, and in that moment, she knew he was looking at them.

 _‘Go… my friends…’_ A voice whispered in her head, as Ghidorah began to lift Godzilla off the ground.

“Sweet Jesus.” Max breathed, as Ghidorah took off, carrying Godzilla with it.

The two titans shrunk as they flew into the distance, becoming mere pinpricks, and then, nothing.

“Guys…” Dustin breathed. “What do we do?”

“…That,” Serizawa replied, “Is the question… I wish I had an answer for you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	5. The Oxygen Destroyer

Will weakly kicked and struggled, as the creature so much larger than even him carried him through the air like he was nothing.

 ** _“Quit struggling, fool.”_** Ghidorah hissed.

 _‘Why…’_ Will growled mentally, knowing that the monster could hear him. They had determined that much during their fistfight on the ground. _‘Why are you doing this?’_

 ** _“We are King Ghidorah.”_** The three hissed back. **_“And you are responsible for this… tortuous existence of ours.”_**

 _‘I don’t…’_ Will weakly thought. _‘I don’t even know who you are…’_

He could hear each head growl, spitting out hot air. **_“Then you will know.”_** Ghidorah proclaimed, before assaulting Will’s mind with images.

_A spider-like monster, made from melted down, mind-controlled humans, crawling through the tunnel system underneath Hawkins from its last invasion attempt._

_Three snakes, each one pinned down by blobby, fleshy tentacles. The tentacles bit into each one, the creature leaving a small piece of itself behind to fuel the new growth, but disconnected from its larger being, so the new life being created would not die upon its inevitable defeat._

_The three snakes grew, mutating, consuming the plants and hapless animals that found their way into the tunnels, before they fused into one body, still growing._

_The new life form carved out a cavernous space for it to continue growing, and bided its time, listening, waiting._

_Mike Wheeler fell into the cavern, and the creature knew that its hour had come. And what better irony was there than to use Will’s own oldest friend to kill him?_

**_“We are King Ghidorah.”_** Ghidorah exalted itself, the eyes of one head boring holes into Will’s soul. **_“And we were_ made _to kill you.”_**

 _‘Then…’_ Will mentally wheezed, the claws holding him in the air tearing and rending the skin and flesh on his body. _‘Why… why am I still alive?’_

 ** _“Our… master,”_** Ghidorah snorted, **_“Was very clear: Make him_ suffer. _And what better way to do that is there… than making you watch, helpless, as your people are slaughtered before your eyes?”_**

Ghidorah descended through the clouds, a city below them. Indianapolis. Countless people below screamed in terror, seeing the hellish titan approach. Ghidorah let go of Will, and the titan dropped, taking down a city block like the buildings were bowling pins.

Will groaned, unable to do much more than turn his head, as Ghidorah took to the sky, all three heads shooting out gravity beams in different directions.

The buildings of the city all creaked, and groaned, and collapsed, gravity becoming so high under them they could not support their own weight.

 ** _“This city… will be but the_ first _.”_** Ghidorah declared in Will’s mind, the tiny screams of the humans running to survive filling his ears. The screams began to fade, the people responsible being stamped out as easily as ants fleeing a crumbling colony. **_“Tell us where the girl is… and we shall grant her the mercy of a swift death.”_**

The girl… No need for Ghidorah to elaborate on who it was talking about. El, the one who had foiled the Mind Flayer’s plans time and time again.

 _‘I don’t…’_ Will weakly replied. _‘I don’t know… she didn’t tell me…’_

 ** _“We will find her.”_** Ghidorah decided. **_“Even if we must destroy all other cities on this planet to do so.”_**

Will watched, helpless, as countless lives around him burned, and screamed, and died.

His only thought as he slipped into unconsciousness was the hope that some of the people might’ve at least deserved it.

\-----------------

Fort Dougherty was a mess of chaos, personnel scrambling as the unnatural terror over Indianapolis was ripping the city to shreds.

A pickup pulled off to the side off the tarmac, Newt and Gottlieb getting out. Newt grabbed the canister out of the back seat, allowing the soldiers that had been assigned to escort duty to lead them to the command center.

A wing of fighter jets took off outside, the roar tearing through the air, as the two scientists were guided to the command center.

“General Stenz, sir.” The escort addressed.

An aged man, wearing a military uniform, turned to look at the new arrivals. “Doctors,” He turned back. “You picked a hell of a time to show up.”

“Yeah, well,” Newt hysterically replied. “Giant hell dragon shows up out of nowhere, forgive me for feeling safe next to the people with all the guns.”

Gottlieb hissed, elbowing Newt in the side. “Forgive my colleague’s sarcasm, but we need to speak with you.”

“Yes, well,” Stenz returned in kind, “Forgive _me_ , but I have problems to deal with.” He turned to a screen, showing a far-out broadcast of Ghidorah leveling a building in Indianapolis. “What’s the ETA on our fighters?”

“Ten minutes out, sir.” Another soldier at a console reported.

“Good, now, if you’ll excuse me,” Stenz directed to the two scientists, “I have an operation I have to oversee.” He glanced at the soldiers. “Get these two somewhere safe.” He ordered, turning back to the screen.

“General,” Gottlieb addressed, “We have a weapon that can kill that thing.”

Stenz was quick to snap back over.

\-------------

“Ten minutes.” Stenz outlined, meeting privately with Gottlieb and Geizler. “You have ten minutes, then I need to get back out there.”

“Five is all we need.” Gottlieb replied.

“Then by all means,” Stenz gestured.

“Right, so, a couple of years ago,” Newt began, setting the canister down. “I discovered a gaseous chemical that reacted violently with oxygen. Called it micro-oxygen. Well, it’s not actually _oxygen,_ but I needed a snappy name. The two meet, they wipe each other out, like matter and anti-matter.” He quickly exposited. “Now, I never _told_ anyone because I mean think about it. The only conceivable use this has is as a power source which I wanted to make sure was safe before I put it out there or a weapon and I didn’t want to-“

“Doctor Geizler,” Stenz addressed, cutting off the man’s anxious motor-mouthing. “Just get to the point, please.”

“Alright,” Newt sighed, psyching himself up to continue. “I didn’t share it, but I kept the formula. And then we discovered Godzilla, and we eventually came to the conclusion that nothing could kill him… except for this.” He gestured down to the device. “I present to you, Project Vacuum.”

Gottlieb sighed. “Its _actual_ name is the Oxygen Destroyer.” He explained.

“Well, yeah, if you want to be boring.” Newt snarked. “Anyway, inside this-“ He gestured to the canister. “Is a payload of micro-oxygen. When the payload makes contact with the open air, in the span of just a few seconds, all oxygen in the air is destroyed. Wiped out. Completely.” He explained. “Including the oxygen inside the bodies of any living creatures. They instantly suffocate to death.”

Stenz slowly nodded. “And you believe this… Oxygen Destroyer can be used to kill that… Monster?”

Gottlieb nodded. “Yes. I am not a biologist like my colleague, but I am certain that the creature attacking Indianapolis, as well as Godzilla, needs air to breath. We cut off the air, it suffocates.”

“...” Stenz remained silent for a moment, rubbing his face. “There are still civilians in that area.”

“General,” Gottlieb addressed, “Our weapons will not work against it. It bested Godzilla. And at the rate the beast is currently going, all civilians in that area are dead anyway. We have the chance to end this, now.”

Stenz slowly nodded, considering Gottlieb’s words. “What sort of delivery mechanism does this device need?”

“I-It’s simple,” Newt said, “Just take a payload out of one of the missiles on-site, and pop this baby in. Micro-oxygen isn’t flammable, so when the missile hits, the container will break, and the gas will do the rest. A-And, even if that thing shoots it down, the gas will just be released anyway.”

“Very well,” Stenz drew a breath, “I’ll send word to silo one. Get there and get that installed immediately.” He ordered, going to exit.

“Yes, sir!” Gottlieb snapped off a salute, before he frowned. “Why am I saluting?”

\--------------

The morning sun hung high in the sky, chasing away the last violet streaks of night. Despite the weather being typical of a calm, cheery day, the mood was anything but.

G-Team sat in the main building of the research outpost, joined by the surviving three members of the Hawkins AV club, their heads bowed in sorrow.

On a muted television, the feed of Ghidorah showed the monster at the heart of Indianapolis, fighting a swarm of fighter jets trying to bring it down. They looked like moths, compared to the enormous, three-headed dragon, and each one went down easily, like insects.

There weren’t many people left, in that city, but Ghidorah was persistent, and seemed intent to make sure that whatever humans were left were killed, the city becoming nothing more than a graveyard.

But, perhaps most disheartening of all… was seeing Godzilla just laying there, weak, like an abused animal, unable to do anything but move his head more than a few feet.

Maddie swallowed, looking at the screen. “He’s lost a lot of blood…” He wasn’t any paler, by any definition of the word, but… she knew that much, at least. She could feel it.

“I’ve only got three questions,” Barnes began, “What the hell was that thing, why’s it here, and what the hell’s it doing?”

Serizawa stood with his arms crossed, staring at the screen. “It’s another lifeform like Gojira, but different… another species?”

“Maybe…” Vivienne granted. “But why has it emerged only just now? And why target Godzilla?”

“A rival species?” Chen suggested.

“Maybe.” Mark frowned, looking at the screen with narrowed eyes. “But something about that thing isn’t right…”

Barnes looked to the other man with dripping sarcasm. “It’s a giant three-headed dragon, is there _anything_ right about that thing!?”

“Good point.” Mark granted. “But still… It’s staring me in the face, I just can’t figure it out.”

Vivienne turned to the three. “What about you kids?” She asked. “The storm’s over, you can go home now.”

“Yeah, but…” Max began. “It doesn’t feel right. Godzilla saved our lives. We should stay.”

Serizawa looked to them with a tilted head, intrigued. “Gojira saved your lives?”

“It’s…” Lucas began, the three of them looking between themselves. “A long story.”

Movement near the entrance grabbed everybody’s attention, as the front door opened, and someone came stumbling in.

Dustin was the first to shoot to his feet. “MIKE!” He shouted, running over to the boy, caked head to toe in mud. “Are you okay, man!? We called your mom, but she said you didn’t make it home before the storm!”

“I’m…” Mike coughed; his voice rough from what must’ve been prolonged screaming. “I’m fine. Can I get a glass of water?”

“Certainly,” Serizawa walked to the other room to do just that.

The others looked Mike up and down, as Dustin helped him sit down in a chair. Mike was limping heavily, and he looked really rough, sleep deprived even.

“Damn, kid.” Barnes whistled. “You look like you’ve had a hell of a night.”

Mike winced, as Serizawa came back, holding a glass of water. “Tell me about it. Thanks,” He took the glass, gulping the water down like it was nectar of the gods.

Lucas frowned as he looked his friend over. “What happened to you?”

“…I made a mistake.” Mike swallowed, in anxiety rather than the water. “A huge, huge mistake.”

\--------------

Ghidorah roared, cackling as it relished the screams of the humans running below. Hours of ripping the city to smithereens, and it still hadn’t gotten boring.

 _‘Stop…’_ Will protested. _‘Stop this… please. You don’t have to do this.’_

 ** _“No.”_** Ghidorah agreed. **_“But we_ want _to.”_**

A jet got dangerously close to Ghidorah, expending the last of its ammunition, as it prepared to make a suicide run for one of the heads. The daring pilot ejected, only to be snapped up by another head, as the jet hit and caused the affected head to merely shake it off like a dog shaking off water.

 ** _“Human minds…”_** Ghidorah remarked, the right head swallowing the pilot. **_“So small… full of garbage… but there may be something useful in it after all.”_**

 _‘You just ate him…’_ Will breathed, trying and failing yet again to move. _‘You’re a god damn monster…’_

 ** _“It is the circle of life.”_** Ghidorah retorted. **_“These insects have only one purpose: Nourishment. After all… what is life, but nature’s way of keeping meat fresh?”_**

 _‘Stop this.’_ Will growled. _‘I’m telling you, stop. If it’s food you’re after, I can work something out with the humans, just stop.’_

 ** _“We are not interested in_ food. _”_** Ghidorah snorted derisively, knocking power lines down with its gravity beams. **_“We are interested in destruction. Sustenance is merely a bonus… And if you are so determined for this to end, simply tell us what we wish to know._ Where is Eleven?”**

 _‘I told you…’_ Will weakly muttered. _‘I don’t know.’_

**_ “Then enjoy watching the last of this city perish in fire.” _ **

As Ghidorah began to rip into the remains of Indianapolis with renewed vigor, Will closed his eyes, unable to look at the destruction.

He needed to get a message to the others, somehow. Tell them to find El and get her somewhere safe. If he died, she could be potentially the only thing standing between King Ghidorah and the rest of the planet.

But there was a problem. He was all the way in _Indianapolis,_ and even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be able to produce the sounds necessary to properly convey the message.

 _‘I need to talk to them somehow…’_ Will thought to himself. _‘There has to be some way for them to understand…’_

The world around Will began to slip away, everything going dark as he thought about what to do. The sounds of destruction, sirens wailing, and people screaming all quieted, as it became just Will in his mind.

But then, curiously, he started to hear something different.

The only way he could really describe it would be like… seeing a light slowly form at the end of a tunnel. But this wasn’t light, it was something else. It was… feeling. Emotion. Someone’s love for someone tainted by loss, and sorrow, and rage.

It took him a moment to truly comprehend, but as new voices began to fill his head, Will came to a conclusion.

This must be what another person’s mind felt like.

Will resisted the urge to laugh. He’d been praying for a miracle… this is just what he needed.

Time to make good use of it.

\-------------

“…And then the all that dirt that had made up the ceiling fell down.” Mike outlined, everybody’s focus square on him.

Serizawa, with his arms crossed, slowly nodded. “And how did you survive?”

“The layer of dirt on the ceiling wasn’t that thick. Ghidorah did the heavy lifting holding it up.” Mike answered. “I spent most of the night trying to just climb up the edge to get out.”

“And then you came to us.” Vivienne guessed.

“Yeah.” Mike nodded, looking downcast. “I figured… you guys are the experts on the giant monsters, you’d know what to do.”

Maddie, who was standing away, scowled. “You’re an idiot.”

Mike’s head shot up and snapped to her.

“Maddie-“ Mark began to reprimand.

“This _moron,”_ She raised her voice, pointing angrily at Mike, “Trusted something he just met! That was talking in his _mind_! And now because of him, Ghidorah’s tearing everything to shreds!”

Her father placed a calming hand on her shoulder. “Ghidorah would’ve attacked anyway. And it would be worse because then we’d have no _actual_ idea what’s going on.” Mark glanced at Mike. “Besides, he’s only human. We all make mistakes.”

Maddie huffed, crossing her arms. “Most of us don’t make mistakes that kill thousands.”

“Hey,” Mike angrily seethed, “You think I’m _happy_ that thing’s going around tearing everything to shreds!? News flash kid, I’m not!”

“What made you decide to assist Ghidorah anyway?” Chen inquired, sitting on a chair at the desk. The phone was ringing wildly, people calling from all over asking about what was happening. Not that she had any answers for them.

Mike looked downcast, clasping his hands. “About… ten months ago my friend, Will, went missing.”

Max sighed, shaking her head. “Come on, Mike… That’s what this is about?”

“The lady asked.” Mike shot back. He kept silent for a moment, trying to find the words. “Ghidorah… said that Godzilla was responsible. That he ‘consumed’ Will, but now… now I don’t know what to believe.”

Maddie shook her head, keeping quiet, as the others continued pressing Mike for information. What Ghidorah said its plans were, why it was there.

The girl could hear a faint voice whispering, and she stood stiff, looking around. No one was looking at her to indicate they were trying to address her.

So, where had it come from?

 _“…Hello…?”_ The voice weakly echoed. _“Hello?”_

Maddie looked around for the source, but as she moved her head, the voice remained at the same volume on both sides of her head. It was coming from _inside_ , not outside.

Maddie frowned, furrowing her eyebrow. _‘Hello?’_ She thought back. The last thing she needed was the others seeing her talking to herself and believing her to be insane.

 _“Maddie…”_ The voice breathed, seemingly relieved. _“I’m so glad it’s you… I had no idea what the hell was going on…”_

 _‘Sorry, but who are you?’_ Maddie tersely questioned in response, as her father looked at the television screen, talking about Ghidorah’s behavior. Now that they knew it was intelligent, it wasn’t a hunt. Ghidorah was exterminating them. _‘And what are you doing inside my head?’_

_“It’s me, Maddie… Big G…”_

Maddie froze, looking to the TV. Godzilla lay there, unmoving. He looked dead, but the slight twitch in his muscles every few seconds confirmed otherwise. _‘Prove it.’_

_“Huh…?”_

_‘Move your head.’_

_“I can’t… too… too weak to move.”_

_‘Then give me something else._ Prove to me _that you’re Godzilla.’_

She could feel the silence, the thought on the other end as the seconds ticked by.

 _“The first day you were out on the compound…”_ The voice weakly recalled. _“The side of the lake fell away… Everyone else was inside when you fell in… you would’ve drowned… I fished you out.”_

Maddie swallowed, as she recalled that day. The water had been cold as hell, the shock from the temperature not helping as she tried to kick, only succeeding in driving herself under further. Then, she landed on something firm but also strangely soft, and she was lifted out, only to be met by the strangely emotive worried face of the local lake monster.

 _“You made me a giant brownie as thanks…”_ He continued. _“It was an all-day project, and you guys had to wheel it out to me on a pallet jack.”_

 _‘…It’s you…’_ Maddie breathed mentally. _‘Holy shit, it’s really you… How are you speaking to me right now?’_

 _“I don’t… I don’t know…”_ Godzilla weakly replied. _“But tha… That’s not important.”_

Maddie heard the weakness in his voice, and her being began to become overtaken with worry. _‘Are you okay, big guy? What’s wrong? What can we do to help?’_

 _“You can’t… you can’t help me…”_ Godzilla croaked. _“You need to… get with Dustin, Max, and Lucas… they’re my friends from before… tell them… tell them Ghidorah’s going to go after El after he’s done with me.”_

_‘El? Who’s El?’_

_“They’ll know…”_ Godzilla gulped. _“And… tell them I’m sorry… for running away… without telling them… what was really going on…”_ His voice began to fade.

 _‘G? …Hello?’_ Maddie worriedly thought.

Barnes, who was still looking at the TV, stiffened. “Guys… check it out.” He worriedly pointed, as the news headline flashed at the bottom of the screen.

 _‘MILITARY DEPLOYS NEW WEAPON TO KILL MONSTERS.’_ The headline read.

Vivienne was the first one to move into action, taking the television off mute.

 _“The new weapon,”_ The news anchor covered off-camera, _“Called an ‘Oxygen Destroyer,’ was launched from Fort Dougherty Air Force Base only ten minutes ago. It should be making impact any second now…”_

“Oxygen Destroyer…” Serizawa repeated lowly. “They didn’t…”

The cameraman, standing far away from the city, pointed the camera at the point of light tearing through the atmosphere.

Ghidorah’s heads all snapped towards the missile, and the titan roared, firing just a single gravity beam at the rocket coming in.

The missile exploded, and things for just a moment, looked hopeless, before a wave of green light, created by the materials inside colliding with the atmosphere, tore through the air, enveloping the city, as the cameraman stood a safe distance away.

Maddie suddenly staggered back, like she had been hit by a shotgun blast, clutching her chest. She felt like she was… suffocating. No, not like that, more like her lungs were imploding, like a water bottle crumpling as all the air was sucked out of it.

Ghidorah roared in agony, falling to the ground.

 _“We’re, uh, we’re getting confirmation now,”_ The newscaster reported, _“Even though the missile_ didn’t _hit, the weapon still fired as intended.”_

Maddie stumbled back, gasping for air.

“Maddie!” Her father caught her. “Maddie!?”

“I’m…” The girl huffed and puffed, “I’m fine.”

While the others looked on, one set of eyes widened, beholding the sight on the television. “Guys…” Lucas grabbed their attention. “Look.”

Dust and rubble were shifted around, kicked up as something at the heart of it all moved.

Ghidorah was getting back up.

Serizawa swallowed, “Turn it off.” He ordered. The weapons had failed, Ghidorah was victorious, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

They didn’t need to see the news to know they were all dead.

“Well…” Max gulped. “Now what?”

Maddie moved slowly, flopping down in the chair as she tried to regain her breathing. “Guys…”

“You kids should get back to your homes.” Chen gently suggested. “Be with your families.”

The Party nodded, getting to their feet.

“No…” Maddie protested, grabbing Mike’s wrist.

“Maddie?” Mark asked. “What is it?”

“Godzilla…” She began, trying to find a way to word it so she wouldn’t seem insane. “He has a plan.”

Serizawa smiled sadly. “I want to keep my faith in Gojira as well, Madison… but it is out of his capabilities.”

Maddie shook her head. “No… I could hear him. He was speaking to me.”

“Uh…” Barnes glanced at the others. “You mean like Smaug over there?”

“Smaug was a regular dragon, dude,” Dustin corrected, “Not a Hydra.”

“Does it really _matter?”_ Lucas hissed.

“Maddie…” Vivienne began. “What do you mean he spoke to you?”

“I heard him…” Maddie tapped her temple. “In my mind. Like he,” She pointed to Mike, “Said Ghidorah spoke, but this was different. His voice was… young. Not deep, not scratchy, and not a woman. It wasn’t Ghidorah speaking. And he proved it was him. He remembered the time he saved me in the lake, and the brownie we made for him afterward.”

All eyes in the room widened, as Serizawa approached Maddie, placing his hands on h shoulders. “Madison… what did he say?”

“He said…” Maddie began, trying to recall the words.

Max snorted. “This is _crazy_ …”

“Shh!” Dustin hissed.

“He said that Ghidorah was going after someone named… El?” Maddie recalled.

Mike’s arms dropped to his sides as he shot up. “El!? Godzilla knows about El!?”

Lucas hit him in the shoulder. “More than that, dude, _Ghidorah_ knows about her!”

“We… We have to find her!” Mike launched into a rush. “Call Joyce, tell her to get them all somewhere safe!”

“Wait.” Maddie ordered. “Cause he said something else. It was a message for you guys.” She looked to the three. “He said… ‘He’s sorry he ran away without telling you guys what was going on.’”

Lucas frowned. “Ran away? He didn’t run away, he was carried off by Ghidorah.”

Dustin’s eyebrows knit together. “And why tell us?”

Mike inhaled, eyes going the size of dinner plates. “No… no way… that’s impossible.” He muttered.

“What is it, young man?” Chen inquired.

Mike didn’t answer her, looking instead to his friends. “I think I know what happened to Will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	6. Chicago or Bust

“Okay, so,” Mike leaned on a desk, looking at everybody assembled in the room, “Whatever is said here _does not_ leave this room, understand?”

Barnes crossed his arms, frowning in confusion. “I don’t get it kid. It can’t be that serious.”

“It’s serious.” Dustin nodded. “Like, government hunting down and incarcerating all our families serious.”

Barnes whistled. “Damn… okay.” He nodded, the other adults following suit.

“So, there used to be this old laboratory on the outskirts of town.” Mike began. “Nobody knows _everything_ that went on in that place, but there was one series of tests that went down there. MKULTRA.”

Mark raised an eyebrow. “You’re getting into conspiracy theories, seriously?”

“It’s not a theory, it’s fact.” Mike retorted. “There was one test subject we met, Eleven. That’s where we get El from. And she had… freaky abilities.”

Vivienne crossed her arms. “Define ‘freaky.’”

“Psychic powers, telekinesis, extrasensory perception.” Dustin outlined, before he smiled. “Seriously cool stuff.”

“Yeah, she flipped a van _with her mind_.” Lucas stated.

Mike nodded. “Anyway, the people in charge of the lab were using her to spy on people, but during one spying mission, she found something else, and made contact. An alien.”

“…an alien?” Madison blankly repeated.

Mike looked to her, dead serious as he nodded again. “Alien. When she made contact with it, a portal was torn between our world and its world, we call it the Upside Down. Like a game board. The surface is our world, the other side is the Upside Down.”

“Very fascinating,” Chen said, but there was a hint of searching and confusion in her voice, “But I still fail to see what this has to do with Godzilla.”

“I suspect that answer will come.” Serizawa told her, before looking to Mike. “Continue.”

“Now, our friend, Will,” Mike began, “He got trapped in the Upside Down for a _week_. Breathing tainted air, drinking contaminated water… when his mom found him, he had this weird, fleshy… tendril thing snaking into his mouth, but they got it out. When they brought him back, the doctors said he’d recover with no effects.”

“Yeah, okay, that’s all well and good,” Mark held up a hand, “But how does Godzilla fit into this?”

“What if the doctors were wrong?” Mike posited. “What if… being in the Upside Down started to change him. Change him into something fit to survive over there?”

Max looked to Mike, jaw dropping. “You can’t be serious…”

“I am.” Mike retorted, taking a short pause. “Hopper said the entire place was a radioactive hellscape, dead.”

Vivienne’s head shot up. “Radioactive?”

“Yes.” Mike confirmed.

Vivienne looked to the others. “It’s like Newt was saying… Godzilla absorbs and metabolizes radiation.”

“He’s radioactive!?” Lucas squeaked.

“It makes sense.” Mike breathed, the epiphany hitting him full force. “Think about it. We didn’t notice anything really wrong with Will up until Halloween last year, that was when he was possessed by the Mind Flayer.”

“The _what_?” Maddie questioned.

“Superorganism from the other side that wants to come through and absorb all life on our side into itself.” Dustin rattled off quickly.

“It took Will in the field outside school, remember?” He posed to his friends. “We burned it out of him, but what if… What if Will had been slowly mutating all that time, and the possession somehow accelerated it?”

“And… he decided _not_ to tell you guys?” Barnes questioned, pointing. “His friends?”

“It’s perfectly in character for him.” Mike replied. “Think about it… before he vanished, what did he look like?”

“He looked…” Max recalled, frowning. “He looked beefier than Billy, at least. He was _huge_.”

“It was like his body had just decided to skip to eighteen.” Mike explained for everyone. “And he had these weird scars on his neck. We thought they were cuts, but what if… what if they were _gills_?”

“…Gills?” Lucas replied. “On a human?”

“They only showed up after Troy and James tried to hold him under the water at the pool.” Mike remembered, looking down. “Will saw himself, felt himself slowly changing into something else… it must’ve terrified him. And since the lab was closed down after Nancy and Jonathan put out that expose, he didn’t have anyone to check him over. He must’ve figured it’d be better to hide away in secret than let himself hurt us by becoming a monster.”

Lucas rubbed his face. “Okay… then what was he doing all that time, huh?”

“Hiding in the lake.” Mike suggested. “Somebody must’ve spotted him which started up the rumors about Jordy. Then the Mind Flayer attacked again this summer. Will must’ve had some residual connection to it or something that allowed him to feel it, and he went into action.”

“Oh my God…” Dustin breathed. “Holy shit! He wasn’t attacking us! We were wondering why he only went after the Mind Flayer, but if Will’s Godzilla-!”

“Then he remembered us.” Mike finished. “He remembered us and came to help when we needed him most…”

“He helped you?” Serizawa questioned.

“Yeah, the attack on the mall wasn’t an attack _on the mall_.” Lucas explained. “There was a monster made of melted down people and he cornered it there to kill it.”

“…Ghidorah said Godzilla consumed Will.” Mike muttered, everything clicking into place. “But Godzilla _is_ Will… Or more like, Will _became_ Godzilla.”

“Okay, yeah,” Mark pointed, “That’s all well and good, but what about the three-headed dragon? How does that fit into this?”

“The Mind Flayer only made the body out of melted humans because of El.” Mike began, following the path laid out in his mind. “She closed the portal on it in ’84, but that only pissed it off. It made the body to kill her… and then Godzilla shows up, and the Mind Flayer knows it can’t win, so it makes something that can get Godzilla out of the way so next go around it’s an even fight again.”

“Which it already has…” Maddie swallowed, looking at the television screen.

“So…” Barnes searched. “What do we do?”

\------------

Ghidorah’s heads shook, blasting out hot air, as it looked to the skies, glaring. It stomped over to Godzilla, digging its claws into the other titan, as its wings began to flap.

It was no idiot. It knew a missile like that would’ve come from the nearest military base. And thanks to the information it got from the pilot’s mind that it had absorbed, it knew exactly where that base was.

\------------

“What do you mean it didn’t work!?” Newt anxiously asked into the cell phone held up to his ear. The thing was huge, and heavy, and technically he wasn’t supposed to have it because it technically was Serizawa’s, but whatever.

 _“I mean it didn’t work.”_ Mark growled. _“That weapon of yours just pissed it off, and now Ghidorah’s headed somewhere else.”_

The base alarms sounded, Newt looking up in alarm. “Yeah, I think I may know where it’s going…”

 _“Attention, all personnel:”_ Someone announced over a loudspeaker. _“Prepare to evacuate immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat: This is not a drill.”_

 _“We’re heading out to Chicago.”_ Mark stated. _“So for god’s sake, stay there, and if you get any more bright ideas about blowing up Godzilla, keep ‘em to yourself!”_

“Chicago!?” Newt repeated with a raised voice, over the turmoil of the rest of the base. “Why the hell are you-!?” The line went dead, and Newt pulled back. “He hung up on me! That ass-!”

_“Monster Zero is approaching the base. I repeat, Monster Zero is approaching the base. Missile silos, prep for immediate launch.”_

“Shit!” Newton cursed, searching around desperately. “That’s not going to work! Um, uh…” He looked, and found the door, sprinting out to head back to the command center.

\--------------

“This… El is in Chicago, correct?” Serizawa repeated to make sure. “Do you know where?”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded. “I have the address memorized. I write her letters every week.”

Max elbowed him. “Not the time, loverboy.”

“Right,” Vivienne grabbed a pencil and sheet of paper, “Give us the address, and we’ll head out there.”

“On your guys’s own?” Dustin snorted.

“You’re not coming with us.” Chen decided, as she prepped everything for them to leave. “Go to your homes, be safe.”

Mark was standing out of the way, making calls, as the group prepared for departure.

Dustin rolled her eyes. “Look, El has had _bad_ experiences with scientist types in the past. Everybody in that family has. You’re _not_ going to be able to just show up on their doorstep and convince them to leave!”

Mark came striding in from the back room. “Alright, I called Geizler. I told him and Gottlieb to hide out in that military base until we get back.”

Vivienne nodded. “Good. They’ll be safe there, for now.”

“Let us go with you.” Dustin continued, looking to Chen.

“Out of the question.” Serizawa decided.

“We’re her _friends_.” Lucas insisted, having Dustin’s back. “She’ll be more likely to believe us than some randos who came in off the street.”

“If Ghidorah is hunting for her,” Serizawa began gravely, “Then that city is about to become a battleground. It is too dangerous.”

“If you can’t convince El to help,” Mike retorted vehemently, “We’re all dead _anyway!_ ” His shout rung throughout the room, and he tried to steady his breathing. “Trust me… we’ve all been through hell together. Let us come.”

The adults all looked to each other, silently considering it.

Serizawa nodded slowly and minutely, before turning to the Party. “Very well. You may come. Mark, Ilene, Madison,” He looked to each of the three as he named them. “Stay here.”

Maddie uncrossed her arms, looking affronted. “What!?”

“We don’t know how Gojira made contact with you,” Serizawa began, “Or why he suddenly broke contact. He may still be attempting to communicate, however.”

Chen’s face became the picture of epiphany. “The ORCA.” She breathed.

Mark spluttered, “It’s a prototype, still! Will it even work at those ranges!?”

“We can only hope.” Serizawa replied. “And even if it does not, Gojira may attempt to contact Maddie again. She is the only link we have to him at the moment. She must be kept safe.”

“Great,” Maddie crossed her arms. “I love being a living Rosetta Stone.”

“But that still leaves one issue,” Vivienne noted. “Chicago’s hours away, even by car. And every minute is another where Ghidorah’s killing hundreds.”

“…You kids know anybody who owns a helicopter nearby?” Barnes asked, looking to the teenagers.

“Uh, yeah,” Lucas confirmed, “Kline, the old mayor, was a hobby flyer. He keeps some planes and stuff at a private airfield. Why?”

“Where we’re going,” Barnes began, gearing up, “We don’t need roads.”

\--------------

“General!” Newt ran into the command center in a huff. “General!”

“Doctor Geizler,” Stenz turned, “The evacuation order’s already gone out. You need to get out of here.”

“I know, but no!” Newt replied. “No, I mean, I know I have to get out of here, but I can’t! The base’s weaponry is not going to work on Ghidorah!”

“He’s right.” Gottlieb sounded displeased admitting that, as he limped up. “Ghidorah, as we’ve already figured out, is well tougher than Godzilla. And Godzilla can tank a _nuke_. All your weapons will do is aggravate it at best.”

“Yes, _or,”_ Stenz proposed, “Slow it down long enough for us to get the people working in this base evacuated. Thank you, gentlemen, but there’s not much more you can do. Nothing for any of us.”

“General,” Newt pleaded, “Hear me out for a second, just a second. Please. There’s already nothing that can stop Ghidorah, so you don’t have anything to lose.”

Stenz looked between the two, before nodding.

“Alright, the only thing that can conceivably pose a threat to Ghidorah is Godzilla, right?” Newton posited aloud.

“Yes, but as Godzilla’s currently bleeding out and being dragged around like a ragdoll, he doesn’t seem like a good place to hedge our bets.” Stenz retorted.

“No but listen!” Newt begged. “What if we could get Godzilla back to full strength, and then some?”

“That would be marvelous.” Stenz stated, only with a hint of sarcasm. “But there aren’t any doctors for something of that size around.”

“There’s us.” Newt stated.

“Newton, what are you-!?” Gottlieb demanded.

“Godzilla feeds off radiation.” Newt was quick to the punch. “Ionizing, non-ionizing, whatever. His body absorbs it all up like a sponge, and then metabolizes it. It’s why he grows so quickly.”

Gottlieb’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Newt. “Newton… where are you going with this?”

“The reason why Godzilla’s not healing right now is because he’s having to feed off background radiation.” Newton explained. “Like someone in a hospital only eating a bag of potato chips every day. But, if we can give him _more_ radiation, that could rapidly accelerate his healing process, return Godzilla to full strength.”

Stenz crossed his arms. “What are you suggesting?”

“General, I hate to ask this.” Newt began. “But do you have any nukes on this base?”

\---------------

Breaking into the airfield outside Hawkins was ludicrously easy. It wasn’t a proper airport, so while there may have been cameras or the like, there were no actual _guards_. At least, none in close enough range to stop them before they got in the air.

Cutting through a fence with a pair of wire cutters, the six ran across the airfield, to the helicopter they had singled out.

Barnes went for the pilot’s seat while Vivienne went for the co-pilot position, everybody else piling into the rear section.

“You sure you know how to fly this thing?” Mike asked, sliding the door shut.

“I used to fly these things back in ‘nam all the damn time.” Barnes replied, pulling a panel open to hotwire the thing started. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing. Buckle up, everybody.” He instructed.

The rotors began to spin, spinning up to blurring speeds, as the chopper began to lift off.

“Hey,” Lucas spoke over a headset, looking over to Mike. “We didn’t tell anybody where we were going!”

“Um, yeah, well… Max’s stepdad is a dick, Dustin’s mom won’t really worry, my mom will be too relieved to see me alive, and you… I guess you can just get Erica to cover for you!” Mike replied.

“Yeah, great!” Lucas sarcastically muttered.

\------------

“Okay, okay!” Newt shouted, walking around the missile. “This works!”

Stenz nodded. “Then we’ll throw everything we got at it.”

“No, no, that won’t work!” Newt replied, as the rain outside came pouring down at deafening volumes. “It’s moving too fast for us to shoot it at where he’s been, and if we aim for where he’ll be, he’ll just see it and change course! The monster’s already coming to us, all we have to do is wait for it to get here.”

Gottlieb stood, looking genuinely horrified. “Newton, you can’t possibly be suggesting-“

Newt nodded gravely; the typical lightheartedness that flowed through him normally evaporating. “One of us has to stay to set it off manually.”

“There must be a way.” Stenz stated. “A-A timed countdown?”

“Sure,” Newt sardonically replied, “you got an ETA on its arrival? How should we set the timer? Wait for it to get to an empty base, realize it’s empty and take off, and just hope it stays around long enough for the bomb to go off, or set the bomb to explode before and give it the chance to head away from the blast? We _have_ to make sure Godzilla gets a high enough dose of radiation to heal him back up. A timed countdown gives Monster Zero too much leeway. Manual would be best.”

“Damnit, Newton!” Gottlieb hissed. “You are _throwing_ your life away! Are you suicidal!?”

“No!” Newt hissed. “But I have family out there, Hermann! People who are going to _die_ if I don’t do something to stop that monster!” He looked up at the sealed ceiling. “I’ll open the silo door. Monster Zero will see it open, come to check it out, and that’s when I’ll set off the nuke. Give Godzilla a steroid boost, and Monster Zero a bloody nose in the process… hopefully.”

“I can get someone around here to-“ Stenz began to offer.

“No, no…” Newt replied. “I’m the one who’s offering… better it be the guy who volunteered first than somebody you had to ask. Thanks, though.”

“Newton…” Gottlieb pleaded. “Think about what you are doing. Please.”

“I am thinking.” Newton turned back to the missile. “But any way you cut this, somebody’s going to die. We send people out to slow Monster Zero down, they’re going to die, whoever stays behind here is going to die.” He rolled his sleeves up and straightened his tie. “Death doesn’t scare me. There’s a whole lotta other things in this world scarier than death.” He walked across the movable platforms to the warhead, popping the panel open. “Look, it actually has a big red button. That’s good. I’m a biologist, not a nuclear engineer. Oh, and do me a favor, just spare me a thought every once in a while?”

Gottlieb swallowed, standing stiff and tall. “Newton… you were a terrific scientist. And a good friend.”

The man turned around, smiling only slightly. “Same here, buddy.”

Stenz, even though he was a member of the armed forces and thus wasn’t technically supposed to, saluted Newt. “You’re a brave man, Doctor Geizler. I would’ve liked to get to know you better.”

“I think…” Newt’s eyes flickered over at the control panel, the device armed and awaiting input. “You knew me at my best, General.” He swallowed and drew a breath, psyching himself up. “Right, you guys had better go.”

The two nodded, and walked away, leaving Newt to his devices.

\-------------

“I don’t like this.” Maddie stated immediately, pacing back and forth, restless.

“Madison,” Her father quietly but firmly addressed, “I told you, please, sit down.”

“I said I was fine.” The girl replied tersely.

“Maddie,” Chen kindly addressed, standing over the ORCA, trying to get the device to work, to no success. “You are our only link to Godzilla. Please, if not for our sake, then for his, sit down and rest.”

“You’re right,” Maddie replied, “I _am_ linked to Godzilla!” She replied, raising her voice. In fairness, it was obvious. His mind reaching out to her of all people, the way she seemed to feel his own pain whenever he got hurt. She was the only one of them who _regularly_ spent time out there with Godzilla, who knows what kind of effect it had.

But that left a point.

“What if he needs me to do something!?” Maddie suggested. “What if he needs me to pass along messages to the others!?”

“You can pass along messages from here.” Mark firmly stated. “He’ll understand. So, please, rest.”

Maddie sighed, flopping down in the chair. Truth be told, rest _did_ sound good. Her entire body felt weak, and there were areas around her chest and neck that ached, like bruises were forming of their own accord.

But even though she had an excuse not to, she felt useless. Newt and Gottlieb were at the military base, trying to help them deal with Ghidorah, everybody else was on their way to Chicago by helicopter, her dad and Chen were trying to get the ORCA to work in case they needed it…

But her? She wasn’t doing jack shit.

“At least let me help get the ORCA working.” Maddie requested.

Mark and Chen looked at each other, before Mark turned back to his daughter, nodding.

Maddie smiled gratefully, slowly standing up and limping over.

The ORCA was _huge_. A device that had to read incoming data and translate it real-time needed a _lot_ of processing power. So much so, that a room filled with computer banks, like computers had been back in the sixties, had to be set aside. The small terminal in the development lab was connected to those but was merely part of the larger system.

Maybe if technology was a bit farther along, they could get the ORCA shrunk down to a laptop-sized device, maybe even smaller, but as it stood now, the thing was a _pain_ to work on.

Despite that, Maddie rolled up her sleeves, and tuned herself to listen to her father’s guidance.

\-------------

The scenery below passed by quickly, as the helicopter blades whirred overhead. Barnes kept them steered calmly as they crossed the state lines, on a direct path for Chicago.

It was much faster than traveling by car, yes, but it was still a trip that took a significant amount of time, and so, the people inside had to keep themselves occupied via any means they could.

As the teenagers in the back played eye spy, or some other similarly made up games to pass the time, Serizawa remained quiet, holding an old pocket watch in his hand.

Mike caught the man’s action, and glanced at him, as the others continued. “What time is it?” He quietly asked.

Serizawa quietly huffed, looking at the cracked glass and stopped arms of the old watch. “Time to get a new watch… this was my father’s.”

Mike slowly nodded. The way Serizawa was holding it was almost like a good luck charm, or a security blanket. It was obvious the watch had sentimental value. “How’d it get broken?” He wondered. Had it come like that?

Serizawa remained silent for a few moments. “My father was in Hiroshima, visiting family.” He began, slowly, quietly. “…This watch was the only thing of him that remained. I was only five years old.”

“…I’m sorry.” Mike quietly replied.

“You needn’t anything to be sorry for.” Serizawa replied. “It happened long ago… I made my peace. But it taught me a lesson.” He glanced at Mike. “Value what you have in the moment… things you can not predict might rip it away.”

Mike nodded, listening intently. He knew that lesson good. “…Why are you so interested in Will? Godzilla, I mean?” He wondered next. Serizawa was a scientist, but his interest was… different. Rather more like a man seeking god rather than a scientist trying to crack a puzzle. It could’ve tied in with his previous statement, value what’s in the moment. Godzilla was a unique being, and if they didn’t value him now, they’d lose him forever, but Mike didn’t think that to be the only reason.

“…You’ve noticed the name I refer to him by?” Serizawa assumed. “’Gojira.’ It is a combination of the words for gorilla and whale in my language. There was a legend in some circles, a fisherman’s tale… of a beast that looked like a creature of the sea but could walk upright like a man. My father… he never believed the stories himself, but he was a fisherman in those circles. And then, one day… his ship was lost in a storm. He fell into the water, unconscious.”

Mike looked on, intrigued. “But he survived, right?”

“Yes.” Serizawa confirmed. “He washed up on land later, unharmed. But the last thing my father said he remembered before losing consciousness was something moving in the water. Something massive. Like a whale with mountains on its back. He believed that Gojira had saved him. After that moment, he began searching as far as he could. He would tell me the stories he had collected during his search… it is the most vivid memories I still have of him.”

“You want to make your father proud.” Mike guessed.

Serizawa looked down at the watch, only a small smile breaking his features. “Don’t we all?”

“Head’s up back there!” Barnes called. “Chicago’s dead ahead! One of you get a map and get ready to guide me!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	7. Zenith

Ghidorah’s enormous wings flapped, pushing air around like a bellow, as it clutched Will in its claws below, taking him along for the ride no matter how much he wanted otherwise.

The claws dug deep, ripping and tearing his weak flesh like it was nothing, as they approached the military base from which the Oxygen Destroyer had been fired.

Ghidorah dropped him, like he had been dropped back in Indianapolis, and Will came tumbling down, onto a hangar building. All Will could hope was that nobody was inside, and if they had been, it had been too quick to feel.

The oddest thing was though the fact that aside from the explosion, the thunder being produced by Ghidorah’s storm, and the wailing of the base’s sirens, it was totally quiet. No gunshots, no people screaming, nothing.

Each one of Ghidorah’s heads looked in differing directions, sniffing the air, before the left one caught sight of an open missile silo.

“Look…” The left head whispered to the others. “The humans all scurried underground and left the door open.”

The right head let out a spiky grin, licking his lips. **“Let us go… pay them a visit.”**

The ground began to rumble, Will laying there helpless, forced to feel it but unable to stop Ghidorah, as the enormous three-headed dragon crawled over to the missile silo.

\-------------

Newt could feel the ground rumbling, and he kept himself steady as his hand hovered over the button. He shot a glance up every few seconds and steadied his breathing.

The tremors reached levels that would make the fault line jealous, before they abruptly stopped.

Newt swallowed and looked up.

Every one of Ghidorah’s heads looked down back at him, face locked in a twisted grin.

Newt glanced at the bomb and returned it with a grin of his own. “Fancy meeting you here!” He said, before slamming his hand down on the button.

Newt looked up at Ghidorah and gulped.

Ghidorah rattled, and the jaws of the middle head opened, before the head shot into the silo, clamping down on and swallowing Newt whole.

Ghidorah looked at the warhead, and in a moment, its look of smug satisfaction vanished.

The reason why the warhead hadn’t gone off immediately was because it was timed. To five seconds.

Scrambling out in a panic, Ghidorah could only watch, helpless, as the bomb went off, a blinding flash of light taking away the air, filling the sky with heat.

\-------------

Will lay there, unmoving, just waiting for death to come, before he felt it. Even though his eyes were closed, everything went white, like standing far too close to the television at night. He felt the heat wash over him, followed by an itching sort of sensation.

And then it happened. Breathing became easier, his aches vanished, and he swore he could feel his open wounds stitch themselves together. His bones popped and creaked as his body began to grow rapidly, and the feeling only got stronger, as it felt like his dorsal plates shattered open, sparking with power.

Will smiled to himself, knowing exactly what this meant.

\------------

Across the state, inside the ORCA development lab, Maddie began to feel a similar sensation, as she felt… energized. Like she could take on the whole world by herself, and _win_.

The eyes of the two adults locked on her and widened.

“What is it?” Maddie asked.

“You’re…” Chen breathed, looking the girl up and down. _“Glowing_.”

Maddie looked down, and gasped as she saw what they meant. Her skin shined slightly translucently; an aqua color not dissimilar to Godzilla’s atomic breath lighting her up from the inside.

Despite the sudden oddness, Chen’s slack-jawed awe, and her father’s panic, Maddie could only smile. She didn’t know _how_ , but she knew _why_ this was happening. If she was connected to Godzilla, feeling his pain, then it only made sense that she could feel all the other things too.

Maddie’s smile shined just as brightly as the light coming from her body. “He’s back.”

\--------------

 _‘GHIDORAH!’_ Will bellowed furiously.

Ghidorah, shaking off the blast, turned around just as angrily, prepared to tear into the beaten-down titan. Instead, however, Ghidorah froze, and all three heads gulped simultaneously.

Will- no… _Godzilla_ stood there, seething with rage, angrier than he had ever been in his life, and his body reflected it. His skin was cracked open, the fissures in his body spewing out light and steam, as the glow remained bright, undying.

Ghidorah hissed. It didn’t know how that had happened, but regardless, Godzilla was going down. It screeched, all three heads firing gravity beams at Godzilla’s chest.

The titan stood there like a building, unwavering, as the beams hit, but seemed to have no effect.

And also, was that just them… or had Godzilla gotten larger?

No, no, he was _definitely_ bigger. Ghidorah had ensured it was _taller_ than Godzilla by at least a hundred feet, that was why it waited so long…

So, why was he eye-level with them now?

Godzilla barred his teeth, snarling, before shooting a blast of atomic breath into the horribly confused left head of Ghidorah.

“AUUGH!” The head screamed in agony as the atomic fire tore through its neck, severing it. The scream died as it spasmed, falling to the lifeless ground of the now-wasteland, dead.

The two remaining heads looked down at their brother, then back to Godzilla.

Ghidorah gulped but had an epiphany as the human’s mind it had consumed finally joined with it. Godzilla’s “friends” were going to a city called “Chicago…” Why go there, unless…?

Ghidorah growled to itself. Wheeler had survived. It could _feel_ it. He’d told them of its plans, that much it was sure of. And since Godzilla was here, and _not_ in Chicago…

They were going to thwart the other part of its plan, killing Eleven. That would _not_ stand.

 ** _“Enjoy this victory while you can, fool.”_** The two remaining heads of Ghidorah snarled, the body flapping its wings as it began to take off once again. **_“You cannot stop us now.”_**

Godzilla snarled, his eyes glowing blue with fury, as the cracks in his skin lit up to full strength again, mirroring the flashing of his dorsal plates. He let out another blast of atomic breath, but Ghidorah was quick on the dodge this time.

Ghidorah vanished into the distance, the storm beginning to die down, as Godzilla looked to the sky, and roared.

Not with victory, but with rage.

Ghidorah may have _thought_ it won, but it hadn’t. Not yet.

But first… he needed to catch up.

\--------------

 _“…Breaking news:”_ The newscaster announced on the television, a special report cutting into the normal program.

In the living room of the new Byers household, located in Chicago (but a little way from the main city), three people sat, gathered around the set, watching with rapt horror as the apocalypse seemed to be unfolding live.

 _“The storm system being generated by Monster Zero,”_ The newscast continued, _“Has suddenly changed course, heading northwest. We currently cannot predict Monster Zero’s destination, but regardless, seek shelter_ immediately. _We will keep you updated as the situation unfolds.”_

El was the first one to swallow, terrified out of her mind. Something like that… it was as much of a force of nature as it was an entity. No fighting it, no outsmarting it, the only thing one could hope for was surviving it.

And given the way that Ghidorah had completely _smashed_ Indianapolis… if it was coming their way, all they could do was hope.

“Joyce…” El quietly croaked. “What’s going to happen?”

“…I don’t know, sweetie.” The woman replied honestly, though it was obviously killing her. She looked to Jonathan. “Start getting supplies ready. We might have to make a run for it.”

Jonathan nodded seriously, “Got it,” He replied, rushing off to do as told.

Joyce was about to go do so as well, but caught sight of El sitting still, and gently approached. “El… I know you’re scared, honey, but I need you to be strong for me. Can you do that?”

“…I’ll try.” El quietly replied.

Joyce smiled, despite the sensation of impending doom. “That’s all I’m asking for.”

The sound of wind picking up outside startled them, their heads snapping to the windows. In a moment however, they could pick out the sound of helicopter rotors, before they died down.

A knock came on the door, and Joyce and El looked at each other, curious.

“Stay here.” Joyce ordered, walking through the house to the front door.

She opened it up, and gasped at the sight of the people before her.

 _“Mike!?”_ Joyce questioned, looking between everyone. _“Dustin, Lucas, Max!?”_ Even though she couldn’t see herself, she was sure her face was the perfect picture of confusion.

El came scrambling around the corner, like an excited puppy seeing new people. “Guys!” She beamed, causing the Japanese man and the woman next to him to blink in confusion, as El ran to her friends.

“What are you guys _doing_ here!? How did you even _get_ here!?” Joyce questioned, stammering. “Do your parents know you’re here!?”

“We need to talk to you, helicopter, no,” Dustin answered, “In that order.”

“Mrs. Byers,” Serizawa formally addressed, bowing his head slightly. “I am Doctor Serizawa, leader of the Lake Jordan Conservation effort. It is very important we speak to you.”

Joyce looked at him suspiciously, her eyes narrowing. “No offence, but you show up on my doorstep, unannounced, driving a _helicopter_ , with a group of teenagers who are supposed to be at their _homes_. Just what the _hell_ is going on?”

“We can explain-“ Vivienne began, only to be cut off by the other woman.

“No.” Joyce pointed. “You listen here. I have been run _ragged_ the past two years with stuff you wouldn’t believe. You tell me frankly, or there’s no discussion.”

“Mrs. Byers,” Mike addressed, focusing on her seriously, “We think we know what happened to Will.”

Instantly, Joyce’s anger and suspicions vanished, as she looked to Mike, hopeful. “Will? What happened to him!? Is he safe!? Is he alright!?”

The teenagers who knew looked to each other.

“Um…” Dustin stammered first. “Depends on your definition. He’s not _dead_ , so there’s that.”

Max elbowed him. “Not _helping._ ” She hissed.

Serizawa sighed, taking his glasses off. “May we come in, please? I promise we can explain.”

Joyce looked between them all, and stepped aside, allowing them inside.

\----------

“Uh oh,” Maddie breathed, looking at the muted picture on the TV. “Ghidorah’s changed course.” Her skin had long since ceased glowing, but she still felt that same… tingly power flowing through every one of her cells.

Mark and Chen instantly dropped what they were doing, turning to look as well.

Mark’s eyes widened as Ghidorah’s course was extrapolated, showing the projected flight path. “It’s going to Chicago!”

“W-“ Maddie turned to the others at a loss for words. “What do we do!?”

“…Godzilla.” Chen stated, looking to her. “You must tell Godzilla to get to Chicago.”

“How!?” Maddie asked in response.

“I don’t know.” Chen admitted. “Use your… Jedi powers.”

“Jedi powers, yeah!” Maddie huffed frustratedly. “Because I just _love_ being a human walkie-talkie… Alright you guys, quiet.” She ordered, closing her eyes, pressing her fingers to her temples in some vain attempt to focus.

Truthfully speaking, she had no clue what she was doing. The last time she communicated like this with Godzilla, he’d been the one to initiate it, not her, and the way he was speaking implied even he had no clue how he’d done it. Maybe they could sit down and talk about it later, but there was a crisis that had to be resolved at the moment.

Steadying her breathing in an attempt to keep calm, she focused her mind, remembering the feeling of Godzilla’s mind. Tinted with so much pain, sorrow, regret, and grief… and yet, a strange sort of homely feeling. Like he’d been through hell, but he still had some people whom he could call friends to go back to.

 _‘Hello?’_ Maddie called out into the void of her mind. _‘Big guy, are you there? Godzilla?’_

In a moment, the same feelings she’d felt upon the first communication returned, and Maddie smiled. It had worked. She had made _psychic contact_ with a giant… animal? Was he an animal? He had been human, according to Will’s friends, but that hadn’t been _proven_ just yet.

…Regardless, she had done it!

 _“Maddie?”_ Godzilla replied, his voice sounding too young to her. She’d expected his voice to be deep, rumbling, like a wrestler or something along those lines. Instead, it was boyish, almost timid in a way. A very odd disconnect from the physical and the mental. Then again, since it was Godzilla’s _mental_ voice, maybe that was just how he saw himself. _“How…?”_

 _‘I don’t know.’_ The girl admitted. _‘You gave us a scare there for a minute, G. How are you feeling?’_

 _“Good…”_ Godzilla replied, with what sounded like a deep breath for emphasis. _“Like there’s nothing that can stop me now… How did you know I was alive?”_

 _‘I felt it.’_ Maddie answered. _‘My skin went this weird blue color and I started glowing… and then I felt like I had downed an energy shot. I thought it must’ve been you.’_

 _“It was me.”_ Godzilla confirmed. _“Somebody in the military base set off a nuke… I don’t know how, but it rejuvenated me. Gave me a boost too.”_

_‘That’s good, cause you’re gonna need it. Ghidorah’s heading to Chicago.’_

Instantly, whatever decent mood Godzilla had evaporated, as he growled. _“It’s not getting away this time… I’m at Fort Dougherty military base. Where is Chicago relative to that?”_

 _‘Northwest.’_ Maddie answered, having seen the newscast herself. _‘There is something else. Those guys who came here, Max, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas… they said you used to be their friend.’_

 _“…So, they worked it out.”_ Godzilla replied with sad proudness. _“They were always smart. Nothing they couldn’t work out by putting their heads together. Are they with you now?”_

_‘No, but that’s the thing! They said your… mom was in Chicago, with someone named El, they went off to go find them so they could convince El to help stop Ghidorah since you were out cold!’_

_“Mom… Jon…”_ Even though she couldn’t see him directly, she could _feel_ Godzilla’s eyes narrowing. _“He’s not getting to them. El saved my life once, time for me to return the favor. Try to call the others. Tell them to make way. The insurance companies are going to have a hell of a time with this one.”_

\--------------

Joyce sat on the couch, leaning forward, her face buried in her hands as the new arrivals relayed everything they had figured out so far. It had been quite a shock, all of them turning up on her doorstep with news that Will had _mutated into a giant lizard who was a walking nuclear reactor and could breathe atomic fire,_ but to her credit, she had listened. There had been stranger things she’d seen, like a monster made out of melted people, and a secret Russian bunker built under a shopping mall holding a portal to another dimension.

Her son mutating because of exposure to said other dimension wasn’t that much of a stretch.

“A-And you’re _sure_ it’s him?” Joyce stammered.

“He told Maddie to tell us he was sorry for running away without letting us know what was actually happening.” Mike responded. “Godzilla couldn’t have known about that… not unless he was Will.”

“That’s… God…” Joyce hyperventilated, unable to find the words. Her son had been there, had _looked_ her in the eyes from the skylight of the mall, and she couldn’t recognize him? In her mind, that only cemented her as the terrible mother Lonnie had always said she was.

Good thing he’d died in Indianapolis by being crushed by Godzilla’s falling body. Not that any of the people there _knew_ that, but long after the events passed, she’d see a list of the dead, her ex-husband’s name on it, and a weight would be lifted off her shoulders. Did that make her a horrible person? Hopefully not. Some people _deserved_ death, and it’s not like she pulled the trigger, or rather, dropped the 90,000-ton monster on him herself.

“Mom?” Jonathan murmured, rubbing her back comfortingly. “You okay?”

“It’s… so…” The woman struggled. _“Much.”_

El blinked, thinking for a few moments as she recalled the events of that fourth of July. “He didn’t attack us… I wondered why.”

Upon seeing El in-person for the first time, Serizawa and Vivienne had been startled by her sheer resemblance to Maddie, or rather, Maddie’s resemblance to her. It was like someone had taken the girl they knew, aged her up by two years, and called it a day. Seriously, they were almost _identical._ The only differences they could spot were the paleness of her skin compared to Maddie’s, the comparative deepness that was in her voice due to age, and the badly covered up tattoo on her left wrist.

If you took El and Maddie and put them side-by-side, even those that knew them would think that they were twins, one of them being a late or early bloomer. Of course, that left an interesting paradox. Upon seeing Maddie, none of those who knew El had commented on the resemblance. It was _weird_. There had to be a rational explanation.

Vivienne had called it coincidence. Serizawa, ever the one interested in myth, called it Shobijinism. It was a tall tale really, that said very very rarely, two people born to two completely different sets of parents had the same similarities to identical twins, even on a genetic level. And oddly, _only_ in girls. Of course, it _had_ been a tall tale…

Until the living proof of that was right in front of them.

They’d wanted to bring it up, but well… Joyce was more worried about Will, rightly so.

“Where is he now?” Joyce inquired.

“We last saw Ghidorah carrying him off.” Vivienne answered. “It was going to a military base. …No idea where he is now.”

“But is he _okay_?” Joyce pressed. “I last saw it on the news they fired that missile at the both of them!” After the two didn’t respond, she pressed them again. “Tell me my son is alright!”

“…We don’t know at the moment.” Serizawa answered honestly. “Like any living creature, Gojira can heal from his wounds, and his regenerative abilities are like nothing else. But it will take time. Time that Ghidorah is free to rampage. That is why we came to you, Mrs. Byers.” He explained, before looking at El. “We understand you have… certain abilities.”

“Oh no,” Joyce laid down the law, “You are _not_ drawing her into this!”

“We don’t really have any other options.” Mike replied for the group. “All of the weapons we have don’t work on it, we’ve already thrown something purpose-designed to kill it and it didn’t work, and Will is down for the count. El is the _only_ shot we have left.”

“Would her powers even _work_ on something that big!?” Joyce asked in response. “The gate is one thing, that… hunter-killer thing from the mall is another, but you’re talking about something that makes _storms_ when it flaps its wings!”

“Hey!” El shouted over the both of them, quelling the two. “Don’t I get a say?”

Joyce sighed, as Mike looked sheepish. “Of course you do, honey.” The woman replied.

“I’d… like to help.” El said. “I really would. But…” She shrugged weakly. “My powers haven’t come back.”

Dustin’s head shot up. “What?”

“After the mall…” El recalled, biting her lip. “The bite, I think, did something… My battery’s dead, and it won’t recharge.” She likened, getting her point across.

“Well hell,” Lucas cursed, flopping back. “Now what do we do?”

“…We will simply have to wait for Gojira to regain his strength.” Serizawa determined, sighing as he stood up. “And hope he learned enough from his first encounter to win the next. Mrs. Byers, thank you, regardless.” He offered.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help.” El apologized.

“You needn’t be sorry.” Serizawa replied, his tone mournful for the coming destruction. “It is out of your control. Come.” He turned to the others. “We should return to the outpost at once.”

The others nodded, even Mike, who looked like he didn’t want to be leaving. As they turned to move, they suddenly stopped as raindrops began to pelt the window, slow at first, before picking up to downpour levels.

Those who’d been at the heart of Ghidorah’s storm the first time heard the roaring winds picking up outside and looked at each other fearfully.

Serizawa drew a deep breath. “It is here.”

\------------

Ghidorah could hear the screams of the humans below as it arrived at Chicago, and the two heads remaining on its body smiled, its spiked teeth locked in a predatory leer. Even though the screams were much lower in number, due to most of the humans evacuating when they had heard it was coming their way, there was still a high enough number of terrorized screeches to be music to Ghidorah’s ears.

It held in the air for a moment, before the mouths of the two heads opened, blasting gravity beams at the skyscrapers in the heart of the city first. The buildings creaked, supports breaking under their own weight, before the glass towers fell.

Ghidorah let out a satisfied, cackling roar as it landed on the ground, swinging around its tails like they were wrecking balls, taking out more buildings from the ground level.

Destruction had never been more fun.

\-----------

The Party and the two from the conservation effort were at a safe distance away, however, forced to watch as Ghidorah’s rampage set the main city in the distance ablaze.

“We need to move!” Serizawa shouted over the screaming winds. “Now! To the helicopter!”

The others allowed him to take the lead down the street, to where Barnes had landed the chopper.

“Mister Barnes!” Serizawa addressed as they approached. “We must take off, now!”

“In winds like these!?” Barnes replied, hopping out. “No way in hell! We’d be better off finding a car!”

“Car, yes…” Serizawa repeated, looking to Joyce. “Do you have a car?”

“Two!” Joyce replied, taking the lead back to the house.

“Excellent!” Serizawa complimented.

The group ran with desperation, trying to get away from the destruction as fast as they could. Trees shook, nearly being uprooted by the winds, as it was all the people on the ground could do not to get blown away.

During the scramble, thunder struck, and the window of a nearby house blew out, sending glass shards flying everywhere, being carried by the wind.

El was unfortunate enough to be the one closest, and while it wasn’t large enough to seriously injure her, it did leave a big cut running across her cheek.

“Ah!” El winced in pain, hand reflexively snapping up to the wound.

“El!” Mike shouted, helping her along. “You okay!?”

“Just a cut…” El breathed, pulling her hand back. She was lucky it was just a small shard, anything bigger might’ve lodged in the side of her face. “I’m fine.”

Mike looked worried, but nodded, and they caught up with the rest of the group, going to the garage of the Byers house.

Counting her lucky stars, El wiped the blood off her hand, continuing on her way.

\--------------

Ghidorah suddenly stopped in the middle of its rampage, as another building fell into the Chicago River. It could smell it.

Blood tinted by dark decay. Ghidorah knew that smell, it was the same smell that clung to its creator, only it was marred by something else. Human blood. The Mind Flayer had been smart when setting Ghidorah’s creation in motion, leaving it a small summary of the events, and _why_ those snot-nosed brats needed to die so badly. Included among that summary was a recounting of the attack before Godzilla had shown up.

The Mind Flayer had torn into the cabin where the children were hiding and bit El in the shin, and when it had done so, it left a small portion of itself behind, a parasite, that festered in the wound while the ignorant fools treated it like a normal wound. When the parasite got to a certain point, El’s powers had been cut off, and though the main parasite had been removed…

Her body still bore portions of that decay, scars marring her very soul. It was yet another backup plan. Ghidorah was left to deal with Godzilla, and the parasite was intended to deal with El. When the time came, there’d be nothing standing in the Mind Flayer’s way.

Both heads looked to each other, grinning as the smell of El’s decay-tainted blood hit their nostrils. The wings of the main body flapped, disturbing the rubble and dust in the air, as Ghidorah took off again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	8. Mothra: The Giver of Life

Trees were crushed underfoot, micro-earthquakes being generated by Godzilla’s enormous strides. To anyone looking from the outside, they’d see Godzilla hauling ass across the ground with that sour look on his face, and either burst out laughing, or piss themselves from fear.

Godzilla was on the move.

\----------

As the group scrambled to split in between the cars, Jonathan froze up, looking in the distance. “It’s coming… It’s coming this way!”

Joyce, ever the strong woman, was first to react. “Everyone in the cars! Now!” She ordered, slamming into the driver’s seat. “It’s coming this way!? Why’s it coming this way!?”

“It knows.” Serizawa breathed gravely. “It knows we’re here.”

Joyce watched as everyone piled into the cars, splitting up between hers and Jonathan’s. Once everyone was inside safely, the larger group naturally going to the larger car, Joyce threw hers into gear, and slammed down on the gas, taking the lead out onto the road.

Thunder struck everywhere, wind roaring like the inside of a wind tunnel.

“Jesus!” Dustin screeched in surprise from the back of Jonathan’s car. He was seeing Ghidorah out the back window, hanging in the sky like some sort of twisted demon trying to play at being an angel and failing completely.

“What do we-“ Joyce stammered. “What do we do!?”

Serizawa, in the passenger seat of her car, tried to think, swaying with the frantic motions. “We must head into the city.”

“What!?” Mike yelled from the back seat. “That place is a slaughtering ground!”

“There will be cover,” Serizawa replied, turning around. “If we head away, Ghidorah will have a perfect shot at us in the open ground… If we lead it into the city, we may be able to trick it into thinking it has killed us.”

“Right!” Joyce nervously agreed, turning the car onto the road to head into the main city. “Good idea… I hope.”

\----------

“Can you reach them?” Mark asked of Chen, the woman hunched over the radio.

Chen shook her head. “No,” She looked at him, trying not to lose hope. “They may have just gotten separated from the helicopter.”

“Yeah…” Mark inhaled. “Or they’re dead.”

“…They’re not dead yet.” Maddie determined, looking at the screen.

Mark looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Well,” Maddie gestured at the screen with both arms. “We know Ghidorah was going after El after taking Godzilla down, and El lives in Chicago… Look at the way it’s moving. It’s still looking for her.”

Mark looked at the screen, eyebrows furrowing as he saw it for himself. Ghidorah seemed to be moving around erratically, like… The cat from Tom and Jerry chasing down the mouse. In that moment, he realized something.

“It’s already found them…” Mark deduced. “Damnit, it’s already found them!” He ran over to the radio in a hurry, trying to tune it frantically, trying to get in contact with anyone, despite how slim the chances of that were.

All they could do now was pray. Pray that Godzilla got there in time.

\-------------

The chase lasted for only a handful of minutes. Fifteen terrifying, excruciating, horrible minutes. That entire time, Ghidorah had been hanging over them like a puppet master, firing gravity beams wildly.

It wasn’t trying to kill them. Not truly. It was playing with them first… every member in the group could see it in those enormous eyes.

With every shot, every yelp that had been produced from the terrified humans, the twisted smiles on Ghidorah’s two remaining heads widened ever further.

But… by the time they got into the city, however… Ghidorah was growing tired. It had been good fun, playing around with them, but all good things must come to an end, as they say. It was growing bored with chasing the humans around like a cat chases around a laser dot.

So, Ghidorah ascended, high into the sky, and hung there. Electricity crackled off its enormous frame, before it sent out gravity beams out towards both cars.

The ground the cars were driving on suddenly uprooted itself, and both cars flipped, skidding to a stop in the middle of the road.

Ghidorah’s heads looked at each other, grinning, before the main body dropped slowly, far away. The humans couldn’t run now…

It would _savor_ this.

\----------

Jonathan hacked, pushing his door open, rolling out of his now-wrecked car. “Everyone all right!?” He asked, over the roaring of the wind and fire.

“F-Fine…” Dustin weakly muttered, climbing out, followed by Lucas and then Barnes, and then finally Vivienne.

“Where’s…?” Max rubbed a bloody spot on her forehead.

“GUYS!” Mike screamed from the car ahead

Jonathan searched around, seeing the other overturned car. “Shit! Mom!” He shouted, running over, practically pulling the door off in his hurry.

“Jonathan…” Joyce weakly muttered, looking around. “What…?”

“I’ve got you,” Jonathan replied, “Don’t worry.”

“GUYS!” Mike screamed from the back. “EL!”

Instantly the mood ran cold. As Serizawa scrambled out, he, Jonathan, and Barnes helped Mike out, fishing El out of the back seat.

The girl’s face was bruised to hell and back, being knocked around from the impact. As they laid her down, they noticed something even more concerning.

Jonathan held an ear to El’s nose. “She’s not breathing!”

Instantly, Vivienne was the one to scramble into action. She was the one of the group with the most first aid training, and frantically felt around for a pulse, checking both wrists and even placing her ear to the girl’s chest.

“Her heart’s stopped…” Vivienne gulped, as Mike let out a choked sob. She threw her hair out of the way, and placed her hands together, starting chest compressions. With the force of each compression, surprisingly much from the relatively petite woman, El’s body spasmed, but other than that, there was no activity.

The ground rumbled, and while the others were focused on El, Lucas was the first one to turn and look to the source.

“Uh…” Lucas worriedly spoke up, “Guys?”

Ghidorah was crawling down the street, eyes locked on the Party, licking its lips.

\------------

After all of it, the others would tell you El had only been out for a couple of minutes, at most, but in her own mind… it felt like an eternity.

An eternity of darkness, an eternity of nightmarish void that even she found terrifying. She knew this was death, and it was fast-approaching.

She didn’t want to die… but another, small part of her found it… welcoming. There was warmth in the darkness. Light. Something… familiar, like a mother’s gently humming voice lulling her to sleep.

She could close her eyes now, forever… and be at peace. She could be with her dad again. And when her mother finally passed away, she could be with her too.

The shows on the television all said not to go into the light… but that was wrong. It was so inviting, welcoming… like an old friend who was there for you and had your back, whispering to you that everything was going to be alright.

But she also had people in the living world she didn’t want to leave… Not Jonathan, the coolest older brother someone like her could ask for, not Joyce, the mother she never had but was glad to have finally gotten, and Mike… her Mike.

And that was El’s dilemma. Torn between the light and the living world. She supposed if she didn’t go into it, she’d go back to where she was before, with Mike and the others.

But… it was so hard to decide.

As she stood there, the light intensified, and then she could hear it.

[A… kind of trilling noise.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF8Ybi2V59g) Coming from the light itself. El tilted her head, and curiosity won out as she began to approach.

As El got closer to the light, she could see its source. Something hanging there, far in the sky of this empty black void, like an angel. Only, angels _wished_ they could be this bright.

She… (El knew it was a she. No proof, it was just… fact.) hung there in the sky, wings slowly and gently flapping to keep herself suspended.

And they were truly enormous wings. El couldn’t even begin to estimate the wingspan, but they were _huge_. They shone like the sun, and behind the light, El could make out a pattern like a monarch butterfly’s, with two enormous eye-like spots near the tips of the wings.

The wings were attached to a fuzzy, mothlike body, with a short stocky head, and two beady blue compound eyes. Anything that large might’ve been grotesque… but she was beautiful. Maybe not traditionally beautiful, but she radiated an almost… spiritual beauty. Though her physical form looked vicious, the sheer presence the being radiated wrapped El in warmth, like a hug that was so desperately needed on a bad day.

El stared up in reverent awe. She didn’t know what part of herself it had come from, but part of her being told her she was in the presence of something… godly. “Who…” She breathed; her innocent eyes wide open as she tilted her head. The being could understand her, she knew that much. “Who are you?”

 _“…Wake up, my child.”_ The Angel whispered in El’s mind, taking on a voice that sounded like a mix of Terry’s (her biological mother) and Joyce (her adoptive mother)*. _“This is not your place to die.”_

The light from the Angel grew blinding, cutting through the void, and El could feel as something wet began to hit her skin, and her closed eyelids.

But wait, her eyes were open?

El suddenly took in a sharp breath, snapping back to reality. Vivienne and Mike were hovering over her, the ground rumbling like an earthquake.

“El!” Mike breathed in teary relief, pulling her into a hug.

“Ow…” El winced, feeling the pain in her chest the action had caused.

“Sorry.” Mike pulled back.

“Guys!” Jonathan bellowed. “Meanwhile!”

All heads turned, gulping, as they saw what he was referring to.

Ghidorah was right on top of them.

El swallowed… She’d just come back to life, why was she doomed to die again?

Ghidorah came to a stop, and the group stood frozen. With the conditions of many of them… there was no way they could run.

Ghidorah’s two heads let out a cackling, taunting roar, before it stood tall, yellow lightning lighting up on the inside of its necks.

El felt her blood go cold. This was it they were about to die…

And yet, either through sheer determination or insanity, El decided they _weren’t_ going to die there. Reflexively throwing out both her hands, she screamed, as if challenging Ghidorah with a roar of her own.

The monster looked down, and its eyes widened as it was knocked off its feet, landing down the street.

El’s jaw, as well as the jaws of everybody else, dropped in shock, as she looked down at her hands, feeling that familiar tingle and low-frequency hum in the back of her head.

Her powers were back… The Angel had restored them.

El stood tall, proud, as Dustin was the first one to whoop.

“Yeah!” Dustin pumped his fist. “How’s that one taste, asshole!?” He taunted Ghidorah.

The monster stood back up, growling, its two remaining faces locked in expressions of hate. The same yellow lightning charged again, and El was ready to knock Ghidorah down again, when something else beat her to the punch.

A blue burst of light, like fire, hit Ghidorah in the side, knocking it down, as the ground shook.

All heads slowly turned, as over the wreckage of the city hall, came an enormous, lumbering lizard.

He stood tall, drawing in a breath, before producing a sound from deep within his throat.

 ** _“SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ONK!”_** Godzilla bellowed, every last ounce of rage, fury, and hatred behind that roar directed at Ghidorah.

Max gulped, stepping back, feeling against the car. “Is it me… or has he been working out since we last saw him?”

It wasn’t just her. Godzilla stood a good hundred feet taller, muscles much more pronounced than they had been, as blue cracks split open his skin.

“My son…” Joyce breathed incredulously, looking up. “That’s my _son_!?”

Godzilla, evidently, had heard her, and his eyes snapped down to her. He didn’t nod, he didn’t shake his head, but he did look… sad. For as sad as something with non-human features could look.

Ghidorah stood back up, and any reunion that could take place in that moment was immediately put on hold, as they all realized there were bigger problems to be solved. It let out a furious, pained screech, nothing like the cackling roars it had been producing up to that point.

Godzilla didn’t growl back, evidently not having deemed Ghidorah worth the effort, as he began stomping forward, crushing the last remains of buildings and empty cars underfoot.

“Move!” Serizawa ordered the others. They had a chance to get away… better take it before the battle properly began.

\-------------

 _“Ghidorah…”_ Godzilla growled, addressing the monster as he stomped towards it. _“Going to run like a little bitch again?”_

Ghidorah snarled, pushing the pain of the wound in its side out of its mind. **_“No… We are going to kill you ourselves!”_**

Godzilla snorted as he continued his approach. _“Tough talk coming from the guy whose head I ripped off. But I’m not without mercy. Lie down and accept it and I’ll make it quick.”_

 ** _“No…”_** Ghidorah snarled. **_“No, no, YOU will die!”_** The otherworldly monster proclaimed. Its right head wriggled around in the air, before spotting a power line. The head bit down, before the main head cackled, and opened its mouth, blasting Godzilla with an extra strength gravity beam.

Godzilla staggered, falling to his knee.

 _“Two heads against one, that’s really unfair._ ” Godzilla decided. _“Let’s even those odds, shall we?”_

He searched around, looking for something, anything to grab as Ghidorah’s gravity beams cut into him like a scalpel.

Glancing to his right, Godzilla found just the thing. A chunk of a building, intact enough for his purposes.

Godzilla picked it up, and sent it hurtling towards Ghidorah.

The two-headed dragon staggered, cutting the gravity beam, which gave Godzilla just enough time to do what he needed to do.

Standing back to full height, the dorsal plates on Godzilla’s back sparked with blue lighting, the cracks in his skin dimming, as he charged his atomic breath.

Unleashing it at the head biting down on the power source, Godzilla roared in satisfaction as Ghidorah staggered in pain, both heads screaming upon feeling the burning.

 **“AUGH!”** The right head bellowed in agony. **“SISTER, HELP ME!”** He begged, as Godzilla’s atomic fire cut through that head like the one at the military base. The head stopped its pained writing, and fell to the ground, just as dead as the last head.

 _“There.”_ Godzilla cracked his knuckles. _“Now it’s one-on-one.”_

Ghidorah’s last head turned, snarling. Though there was just one head now, it wasn’t going to be an easy fight.

Ghidorah snarled, flapping her wings as she charged, and Godzilla roared as well, charging right back. It was like a game of chicken… only there was a city in the way.

It was a clever move, on Ghidorah’s part. By reducing the range, Godzilla wouldn’t be nearly as nimble with his atomic breath. It would be much, much easier to dodge.

The two connected, slamming into each other, sending a shockwave of air throughout the burning remnants of the city. Grey clouds loomed overhead, yellow lightning sparking, framing the two titans like they were warring gods. For all intents and purposes, they were.

Ghidorah was quick and nimble, especially compared to Godzilla. Her attacks were quick and to the point. Whenever she bit down on one point, she’d quickly move, and Godzilla would be unable to react quickly enough before she was on the other side of his body, biting down into yet more exposed flesh.

The humans looked on, a deep sense of dread building within them as they realized that, even with being returned to full strength and then some, Godzilla was still losing to Ghidorah.

Ghidorah bit Godzilla in the leg, dragging him down.

 _“You put up a decent struggle.”_ Ghidorah’s last head almost complimented, pinning Godzilla down. _“Perhaps, in another lifetime, we could’ve ruled this world together. Or perhaps, we still may… join with me. We can overthrow my creator, and rule_ both _worlds ourselves._

 _“You and me?”_ Godzilla sarcastically huffed. _“Never. Think of the children.”_

Ghidorah snarled, tails rattling. _“Then you will_ die.” She proclaimed, drawing up for one final bite to the jugular.

That was all the moment Godzilla needed. Drawing on the same feeling he felt using his atomic breath, he charged himself up. Instead of directing it out of his mouth, however, he directed it out of the cracks in his skin and his dorsal plates, in thin blue streams of highly pitched whining energy.

Ghidorah howled in pain, staggering off Godzilla.

The beams died down, the cracks in his skin dimming, as Godzilla stood tall once again, his wounds healing back up harmlessly.

Ghidorah gulped, unable to get out of the way as Godzilla charged. Those blasts had burned holes in her wings. She couldn’t fly anymore.

Godzilla grabbed Ghidorah by the neck, slamming her into a nearby building.

Ghidorah batted him off with her wings, screeching, as Godzilla went stumbling back. Her body sparked as she charged her gravity beam.

Across the way, Godzilla’s spines glowed as he charged his atomic breath.

With two equally loud bellows, the two fired their respective weapons, the beams colliding and clashing in the air.

Ghidorah screeched, putting more force behind the gravity beam.

Godzilla returned it, putting more power to his atomic breath, pushing the beam back. He clenched his fists, putting even more power behind his atomic breath.

Ghidorah let out a startled roar as the atomic breath overpowered her gravity beam, impacting her right in the head. She went stumbling back, dazed, knocking down a building.

Godzilla stomped over, furious, and planted a foot on Ghidorah’s chest.

With an enraged roar, Ghidorah tried to fight back, as Godzilla grabbed her by the neck, and pried her jaws open.

Drawing on his atomic breath once more, Godzilla fired a blast right into Ghidorah’s gullet. Those who’d bore witness to the fight would forever term it ‘the kiss of death.’

Ghidorah kicked and struggled as Godzilla forced her to look up at him, into his eyes as she died. After a moment, the body stopped struggling, and fell to limply to the ground, crushing the last remnants of the buildings below.

Still clutching the twitching head, Godzilla turned to the sky, and let out a triumphant victory roar, the cracks on his skin finally healing up, as he clutched his trophy in his hand.

Godzilla derisively huffed to himself. _‘So much for “King” Ghidorah.’_

\------------

The humans stood a respectable distance away, looking on the finished fight in awe. Even El was slack jawed at the sight of the enormous creatures doing battle

“Jesus…” Jonathan breathed, as Godzilla nonchalantly tossed the head into the river behind him.

In the distance, Godzilla turned, his massive eyes focusing on them, and he began to walk, shaking the Earth underfoot.

The group froze up, ready for anything.

All Godzilla did however was crouch onto his forelimbs, bringing his head down to look at the group properly.

Joyce stepped forward first. She didn’t want to believe what the others had said, but… she needed to know. “…Will? Is that… you?”

Godzilla didn’t respond in any recognizable language, obviously, but he closed his eyes and rumbled, offering a minute nod.

Joyce took in a choked breath, breaking out into tears. “Will… oh my God, Will…” She cried, pressing herself into his enormous snout.

Godzilla gently rested his head on the ground, closing his eyes.

“It’s you… it’s you…” Was all Joyce could repeat as she cried, and Jonathan was pulled in for the ride as well.

“So…” Mike looked to Serizawa. “Is that it? Is Ghidorah dead?”

Serizawa looked to the charred corpse in the distance. The head in the river twitched, but beyond that, remained unmoving. “…Yes.” Serizawa could say with confidence. “It is dead.”

It had come at a tremendous cost. Countless people were dead, property damage was off the charts, and they had all nearly met their maker as well, and El _had_ died before being brought back...

But he had done it.

Godzilla had won.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Funny how the root of the word Mother is moth.
> 
> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


	9. Epilogue: The Monarch

Godzilla swam in the ocean around the new base aimlessly, just stretching his legs. The open water like this was… amazing. Nothing like Lake Jordan, with how cramped and foggy it was. Those first few months after Ghidorah had been killed were tough going. There were questions, from everyone. The government had wanted to know where Ghidorah had come from, and if it was the only one of its kind, questions that couldn’t be answered.

Two cities had been reduced to rubble, only a handful of survivors all that was remaining of their populations. It was fortunate that he’d stopped Ghidorah when he did, because if he hadn’t, then Ghidorah would’ve just gone from city to city, haphazardly blowing each one down like a house made of straw.

But the day was won, at least. And while the lives of the people he had failed to save weighed on him, Godzilla felt… happy.

Returning to the Lake Jordan compound had been… bittersweet. Newt had been the one to sacrifice himself in order to set the nuke off, and after he’d got back, Gottlieb had packed his bags, and declared his desire to never see any of them again, before vanishing into oblivion.

That was alright. He was his own spirit, after all. And besides, more people came in to replace the void.

After learning that, yes, her son had become a three-hundred-foot-tall lizard capable of eating radiation and breathing nuclear fire, Joyce had decided to keep her family moving with the conservation effort. Serizawa had welcomed them all with open arms. ‘It is vital to Gojira’s mental health, ‘ he had said.

And boy, it was funny seeing El and Maddie react to each other that first time. The two had been terribly, horribly confused… and then immediately decided it was the greatest thing on planet earth. Better than the giant lizard, which, honestly, kinda hurt.

He’s a giant lizard that breathed fire! How is that not cooler than someone who looks like you? People look like other people all the time!

It was good though, to have part of his old life back… Even if things never went back to normal. Which, honestly, they kind of never did, in the sense that things never calmed down. After getting back from the battle, it had been a flurry of activity of senate hearings and realizing that Lake Jordan was no longer fit to house him.

It wasn’t all bad though. They got a cool new base out of an old oil rig that could house all of them, and he got the wide-open ocean to roam around in.

Movement on the base’s platform overlooking the sea caught his attention, and Godzilla surfaced, swimming to the platform.

Maddie was stood there, a smile plastered on her face, with a backpack around her shoulders. “Feeling better, big guy?”

He swam in place, head poking slightly out of the water, as he smiled, and nodded once.

“Cool. Now, since I can actually talk to you _without_ the world ending around us,” Maddie quipped, “What do I call you? Will, or Godzilla?”

That was a good question. Now that the select few had been made aware of his origins, there was some debate… But the answer was obvious to him.

He wasn’t William Byers anymore. He _had_ been, but now he accepted his new existence, and what that meant. He was Godzilla now, plain and simple, and he told Maddie as much. His mom wouldn’t be happy, or at least, she’d have difficulty adjusting. But he’d make an exception for her. No one else though.

“Okay, cool.” Maddie smiled, sitting on the edge of the platform. “I mean, I guessed you’d wanna be called that because it has such a good ring to it. No offense, but if someone says ‘Run! It’s Will!’ it doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

Godzilla laughed, bubbles of air rising to the surface of the stirred water.

“So, since you’re stuck in the water, I don’t suppose you really know a lot about what’s going on?”

 _‘Not really, no.’_ He answered.

“That’s alright,” Maddie resolved, positioning her backpack to open it. “I’ve got everything I need in here…”

She pulled the objects out. Some newspapers, a few magazines, and… was that a tape deck and a speaker?

 _‘What’s with the tunes?’_ Godzilla inquired, tilting his head inquiringly at the girl.

Maddie let a mischievous grin overtake her face. “Oh, that? Haven’t you heard? People are writing songs about you.”

The titan blinked, recoiling slightly. _‘Like what?’_

Maddie’s smile widened, as she hit the play button. A hard rock guitar riff began to emanate from the speakers, as Maddie looked through the assorted papers.

 _‘Hm…’_ Godzilla nodded approvingly. _‘I like it. So far it’s sounding like this song perfectly encapsulates my awesomeness.’_

_“With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound, he pulls the spitting high tension wires down.”_

**_GODZILLA TRIUMPHANT!_** The first headline read, showing a picture of him grabbing Ghidorah’s last head.

“Oh, I like this one.” Maddie held the paper up, allowing Godzilla to see. “Very photogenic.”

_‘I don’t know… does my tail really make me look that fat?’_

_“Helpless people on subway trains scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them.”_

**_LONG LIVE THE KING._** Another headline proclaimed, showing the titan standing, shooting a blast of atomic breath into the air.

 _‘I dunno about that one either.’_ Godzilla muttered. _‘What_ exactly _am I a king of?’_

Maddie rolled her eyes. “The monsters, duh. But that’s not the coolest bit, check it out.”

_“He picks up a bus and he throws it back down as he wades through the buildings toward the center of town~!”_

**_GODZILLA GETS STAR ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME._ **

The titan blinked, looking at it. _‘What, really?’_

“Yep!” Maddie confirmed. “Says here… ‘In recognition for stopping Monster Zero, Godzilla has been honored with his very own star on the Hollywood walk of fame.’”

_“Oh no, they say he’s got to go, go, go, Godzilla!”_

_‘Okay, yeah, that’s pretty cool.’_ Godzilla laughed. _‘I’m a celebrity now… I wonder what I can get away with now that I’m famous?’_

Maddie blinked, more mischievous desires twinkling behind her eyes. “Wanna find out?”

_“Oh no, there goes Tokyo, go, go, Godzilla!”_

_\------------_

**_GODZILLA TRESSPASSES IN RUSSIA._ **

**_The recent explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which caused countless amounts of radioactive fallout to be released over a three-day period was abruptly stopped by the prompt arrival of Godzilla. The record-breaking amounts of radiation began to suddenly fall, before Godzilla reached reactor number 4. The Elephant’s Foot, a melted mass of nuclear material, lost all radioactive properties, before becoming inert, as Godzilla absorbed the radiation from the broken reactor and the surrounding areas._ **

**_The citizens of Pripyat are set to begin returning to their homes, thanks to Godzilla._ **

\---------------

**_GODZILLA AND LADY LIBERTY, A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN._ **

**_The world’s most famous mutant lizard startled tourists, residents, and city officials of New York when he unexpectedly surfaced near Liberty Island, ripping the Statue of Liberty off its base, taking it into the water. No humans were hurt, however, there are several thousand confused parties._ **

_Oh no, they say he’s got to go, go, go, Godzilla!_

Maddie looked down from the paper, glaring. “Put it back.”

_‘But Mad-‘_

“If you _don’t put it back-“_

Godzilla sighed. _‘Yes ma’am.’_

_Oh no, there goes Tokyo, go, go, Godzilla!_

\------------

**_GODZILLA: IS HE A THREAT?_ **

**_With his enormous size raising questions of if he can be stopped, a new group is calling for Godzilla to be killed before quote: “He gets the chance to squish us all like ants.” Another school of thought says otherwise, citing that Godzilla has only become agitated when humans have provoked him first._ **

_History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of man._

**\--------------**

**_MORE MONSTERS ON THE WAY._ **

**_Recent seismic activity fluctuations across Earth suggest that Godzilla may not be the only titanic lifeform roaming the planet. While evidence for these other ‘Titans’ are sparse, the existing evidence all points to one outcome:_ **

**_There are more things than just Godzilla out there._ **

**\------------**

**_ATTACK OF THE G-TEAM!_ **

**_With the evidence of new titans on the rise, the world’s governments are scrambling for a solution. New weapons are being developed at a manic pace in case they should have to be used. Doctor Ishiro Serizawa, however, has a different solution:_ **

**_“Let them fight.”_ **

_History shows again and again how nature points up the folly of man…_

_Godzilla!_

_\------------_

Far from the mainland, located far into the heart of the pacific ocean, there was a tropical island. It didn’t have many natives, and civilization there was sparse. So sparse in fact, that the people in charge of the nuclear tests the United States was conducting during WWII didn’t bother with evacuating the natives.

The island, which had once been a lush, green paradise, untouched mostly by the hand of man, was now a burnt, lifeless hellscape… save for, however, a small patch of green, only a few acres at most, located on the inside of the island.

At the very heart of this patch, there was a temple -a pyramid- surrounded by a small village. Though the village was small, and removed from the rest of civilization, the natives managed to keep up with world affairs as they happened.

One resident of the island, a woman wearing a red toga-like dress with golden braces around her wrists, looked at a newspaper of Godzilla that had been brought back from the mainland, and fought the fear welling up inside her.

Now was not a time for fear. It was a time for action.

Knowing what must be done, she marched down the unpaved streets of the small village, walking up the steps into the heart of the temple.

Another woman, identical to her, stood there, waiting.

“The time has come…” She spoke gravely, resigned. “The Destroyer has arrived.”

There had been an old legend, a prophecy left by the first priestesses, that said that a Destroyer that looked like a creature of Earth, but was instead a twisted perversion, would rise to power and end of the age of man, ushering in the age of monsters. With that, the line of subsequent priestesses were left important duties to ensure that when the Destroyer arrived, the coming destruction could be averted.

The two priestesses knelt, in front of an enormous dark blue egg, and began to chant.

“Mosura ya Mosura…” The two chanted at once, bowing their heads. “Dongan kasakuyan indo muu… Rusuto uiraandoa, hanba hanbamuyan, randa banunradan… Tounjukanraa… Kasaku yaanmu.”

The two priestesses looked up in hopeful awe, as the egg began to glow, and crack, as shining insects began to fill the chamber, heralding the rebirth of the lifeform inside.

\-------------

Dr. Gottlieb walked through the halls of the cramped laboratory, carrying a sizable, though still mobile, tank at his side by a handle, as he limped, bracing himself on his cane. This place was filled with the likes of MIT graduates, people who he actually felt comfortable around, and yet, he was heading to a small office in the basement.

It was the office of an outwardly brilliant woman, who’d just gotten a bit unlucky. Losing a son was horrible mental strain on anyone, and then to top it off, her experiments that would’ve cemented her place in the halls of science for eternity all failed, leaving her with only modest funding, and ridicule to boot.

That was no matter to him. She was the right woman for this project, he knew. Finding the door he sought, Gottlieb knocked against the wood with the tip of his cane, waiting for the response to come.

“I’m busy in here.” The woman replied.

“Doctor Emma Russell?” He spoke up, hoping that his voice was unfamiliar enough to get her intrigued.

It worked, as the door opened a moment later, and the woman stood on the other side, looking on inquisitively.

“Who wants to know?” She looked him up and down.

“I’m Doctor Gottlieb, from the Gojira Conservation Effort.” He introduced.

Emma scowled. “If Mark sent you, tell him he can go-“

“No, no, I’m afraid.” Gottlieb replied. “I… cut ties with them, I should say. I’m here of my own volition.”

Emma’s eyes narrowed suspiciously as she crossed her arms. “What for?”

“I understand you have quite the… experience with experimental biology.” He began. “I was hoping you might be able to assist with a project of mine.”

Emma tilted her head curiously. “What kind of project?”

He gestured to the container at his side, and the rose plant inside. “This is Biollante… and together, we are going to change the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be my [Tumblr](https://d0ct0rp004ndtheturdis.tumblr.com/)


End file.
